Snowbird Chained
by sentinel28
Summary: The Snowbirds have liberated the prison and Sheila, but now time is against them and a whole Cluster is between them and freedom. The only way out is by DropShip. Now all they have to do is steal one, and keep from getting overrun. Two chapters now up!
1. The Deadly Woods

_**SNOWBIRD CHAINED**_

_**Chapter 7 of the Snowbird Saga**_

_**By Sentinel 28A**_

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: Wow, this is the _seventh _story in this ongoing series. You'd think I'd get a life or something. I just like writing this too much. Unfortunately, it also means I haven't touched my Evangelion story (_Evangelion Evolution) _in three months and my Inu-Yasha story_ (The Hunters and the Hunted) _in five. (Plug pluggity plug.) sigh I need a job where I can do this and get paid for it._

_As always, thanks to all of you who have stuck around and kept me going with your great reviews. You know who you are. _

_Again, this story represents a deviation from Battletech canon. In the _Wolf Clan Sourcebook, _it states that Vantaa fell to the Wolves in fall 3050. Here, however, I have it where it remains unconquered in June 3051. _

_Hopefully the hack quotient of this story will be higher than the last story, which was pretty thin on 'Mech action. (Kat Wylder's _Nibelung _saga is leaving me in the dust on 'Mech fights, so I gotta catch up.) In contrast, there isn't going to be much humor in this story. In fact, the overall mood will be pretty grim. In the 'Mech battle in this chapter, I did actually game out the battle, so what you're reading (with one obvious exception) is how it occurred, even the lucky shots. As a result, this is a pretty long chapter._

_And now for something completely different…_

_WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE: It is May 3051. The Clan War is in the fifth month of an uneasy lull. The Clans, following the death of ilKhan Leo Showers at Radstadt, have advanced no further, waiting on the election of a new leader. The Inner Sphere's leaders, at the invitation of Wolf's Dragoons' commander Jaime Wolf, have met to plan a unified front against the Clan threat, an event unprecedented since the fall of the Star League 300 years previously. There, Sheila Arla-Vlata helped train the "young royals," the heirs to the thrones of the Successor States, to better fight their Clan opponents, due to her experience in that regard. She also finally married her fiancee, Max Canis-Vlata._

_The leader of the Federated Commonwealth, Hanse Davion, has not been idle during this lull. He has rushed as many units as possible to the front lines to shore up the defenses in anticipation of a renewal of the Clan offensive. Until those units get there, however, the defense of the Clan frontier will be up to the battered survivors of units who have already faced the Clans—units like the 10__th__ Donegal Guards, the 12__th__ Star Guards, and the Sentinels RCAT, all stationed on the pivotal border world of Vantaa. _

_Yet all is not quiet. Dismayed at the number of warriors being killed in senseless and unending Trials of Grievance, Khan Ulric Kerensky of Clan Wolf and saKhan Cavell Malthus of Clan Jade Falcon have agreed to give their warriors a common goal: the conquest of Vantaa in a gigantic Trial of Possession. It is no coincidence: Cavell Malthus, smarting at reverses suffered at the hands of Sentinels RCAT Commander Calla Bighorn-Vlata, has chosen Vantaa in an effort to destroy the Sentinels for good. His protégé and recently Bloodnamed commander of the 133__rd__ Falcon Fusiliers, Star Colonel Senefa Malthus, also has reasons for wanting to go to Vantaa: having lost in a Circle of Equals to Sheila Arla-Vlata, she too desires revenge. Though the renewal of the Clan offensive is still some months away, war has returned to the Inner Sphere on what used to be a sleepy border world._

_Nor do the Clans face a unified front, despite the efforts of Davion, Theodore Kurita, and Jaime Wolf. Romano Liao, always eager to get her own revenge on Hanse Davion, has secretly agreed to a pact with a minor Steiner nobleman, Duke of Furillo Samuel Bonner, to undermine the FC war effort. Bonner hopes to split House Steiner away from Davion by signing a separate peace with the Clans. Liao, in an effort to get revenge on her old enemy and present Snowbird, Marion Rhialla, has agreed to take Bonner's peace proposal to the Clans, and more, wherever they next appear…_

* * *

_Sentinels GHQ, Cold Harbour_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_15 June 3051_

Calla Bighorn-Vlata pored over a paper map. A holotank glowed behind him, tended to by Sentinel techs, but he preferred the feel of real paper beneath his fingers. Calla felt it was a connection back to ancient times, when men and women only had paper to plan campaigns.

His area of responsibility on Vantaa only reinforced the feel of history. Vantaa had been settled by immigrants from Finland and from the Eastern Seaboard of North America. Unable to get along, they gravitated to the opposite ends of Vantaa's primary continent. While the western end had a definite Scandivanian feel, the eastern end reflected the rich Virginian heritage of those settlers. Towns were named for their counterparts on Terra: Winchester, Cold Harbour, Marye's Heights, Leesburg, Arlington, Shepherdstown, Sharpsburg; rivers included the James, the Anna, and the Chickahominy. Even the mountains and valleys recalled those low rolling ridges and rich farmlands of Virginia. The only real difference was that the woods were more dense, the swamps filled with alien species a tad more deadly than their Terran counterparts, and the winters much colder and reversed: while on Terra Virginia would be entering summer with hot and humid temperatures, on Vantaa, the region was heading into winter and temperatures were dropping. In fact, Calla expected a hard freeze that night.

For a man who loved history almost as much as his wife, Vantaa's nameplaces called forth images of great lines of battle, of blue and gray, of brother against brother in the ancient American Civil War. Over a thousand years before Calla's birth, greats such as Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, J.E.B Stuart, and Philip Sheridan had battled for towns bearing the same names that Calla now had under his fingers, at an incredibly high price. The only difference now was that women filled the ranks as much as men, there were hundreds engaged instead of tens of thousands, and they fought with BattleMechs and tanks rather than rifled muskets and bayonets. But the lessons of leadership remained the same, and Calla was sure that if his MechWarriors could share a fire and cornbread with the ghosts of the Union and the Confederacy, they would find much in common.

Calla had gotten intelligence that the Clans would strike at Vantaa over a month previously, and prepared as best he could. The Sentinels had suffered heavily at the hands of the Clans since the summer of 3050, and six months of rest since the end of the bloody Planting campaign were not enough. Had it not been for the agreement with the commander of the worse-off 719th Striker Regiment, Colonel Christina Malvin, to merge the two units under the Sentinel banner, Calla would be making preparations to abandon the planet. The addition of two understrength battalions of 'Mechs filled out the Sentinel ranks and even allowed for an extra lance to be added to each company, giving the Sentinels 16 'Mechs to the normal twelve and giving those companies a better chance against Clan Stars and Trinaries. Now, at least, Calla had three battalions under his command—Alpha, led by the old veteran Catherine Houndlikov; Beta, now led by the equally skilled Christina Malvin; and the Snowbirds, led by Calla's daughter Sheila, recently returned from Outreach and recently married as well. Sheila, not yet 20, was by far the youngest of his battalion commanders and younger than all of his company commanders as well, but none would deny that she too had skill. The Snowbirds had been one of the bright spots of an otherwise near-disastrous campaign on Planting.

At least here, Calla was not in command of the planet's defense. That fell to the affable Marshal Sarah Steiner, a distant relation to the Federated Commonwealth's ruling family and a decorated veteran of the Fourth Succession War and War of 3039. Besides the Sentinels, Steiner had at her command two battalions of the 10th Donegal Guards, as well as two battalions of the mercenary 12th Star Guards. Unfortunately, like the Sentinels, both units were rebuilding from being manhandled by the Jade Falcons in the opening waves of the invasion. Calla and Sarah had decided to divide Vantaa between them, with the Donegals holding the capital city of Rissala and the Sentinels the main industrial center of Cold Harbour, while the 12th Star Guards operated as an "operational manuever group," concentrating where it was needed most. And right now, Calla needed the old SLDF unit in his sector, because the Jade Falcons had lost none of their edge in the past half-year.

As usual, the Clans had arrived insystem and opened the campaign with what they called a _batchall,_ which Sheila had told him was traditional for them. The idea was that both sides would agree to ground rules for the coming campaign, and if necessary "bid" forces to be used. Calla thought that any rules besides the Ares Conventions were like trying to regulate a bar room brawl, and when it came to bidding, he intended to use everything he had, including his small battalion of tanks and the ill-trained but eager Vantaa Militia. Somehow, he had not been surprised to find that he was once more facing Cavell Malthus of the Jade Falcons: they had already fought each other twice, on Persistence and Planting. Cavell had won on Persistence, forcing the Sentinels offworld, but Calla had blown up the Jade Falcons' objective before he left, an industrial zone that produced raw materials. That was apparently dishonorable activity for the Clans. Calla had won on Planting, mainly because Sheila had reversed a potential disaster at Pascia Grove and then defeated one of Malthus' Star Colonels in a hand-to-hand duel—but Cavell had given the AFFC forces a bloody nose, hurting the Sentinels and the 2nd Kell Hounds, and putting the 20th Arcturan Guards out of action for the better part of a year. So honors were now even, and Calla knew that Cavell's arrival on Vantaa was no accident. Despite that, Cavell was polite and even friendly to the point of wishing Calla luck.

Calla smiled wryly, wondering if Cavell still felt that way. The Jade Falcon commander had only committed the 7th Falcon Regulars Cluster, but the moment that the Clan OmniMechs had dropped into positions around the northernmost city on Vantaa, Sharpsburg, Calla had hit them with everything he had: all three battalions of 'Mechs, plus tanks. He raked the dropzones with artillery and strafing runs. He had nearly won, breaking through in a number of places, but the Clan superiority in firepower and mobility finally prevailed, forcing Calla to retreat behind the Chickahominy, but the 7th Regulars had gone no further either. The Jade Falcons had been bringing in DropShips since that battle on June 1—Calla had noted with irony the name of the place he had fought at—and had obviously reinforced; Calla had asked for and got the two Star Guard battalions to finish off his opponent. Apparently Clan Wolf was present as well, but their DropShips were still mated to their JumpShips, orbiting in a long hyperbola and doing nothing. Steiner had retained her Donegals to counter any moves by the Wolves, but eagerly agreed to Calla's plan.

Now, however, as Calla looked over the map once more, Cavell Malthus had wrested the initiative back. Instead of waiting for Calla to attack him, Cavell had unleashed a second Cluster—the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers. The unit had crossed the Chickahominy during the night of 4 June, wiped out a militia garrison at Winchester, and then sent two companies of the Star Guards flying from Piedmont. The Star Guards had quickly recovered, reinforced, and attacked what looked to be two isolated Trinaries of the Fusiliers, only to find it was an ambush. Now the Star Guards were reeling out of the Massanutten Valley, which led like a corridor directly into the Sentinels' rear. Instead of having the Jade Falcons pinned against Vantaa's northern ocean, outnumbered three to one, Calla faced the unenviable position of having a Falcon Cluster directly to his front and one threatening to come in behind him. The terrain north of Cold Harbour was crisscrossed with dense woods and rivers, but it would do no good if the Fusiliers got loose behind him. The Star Guards still had an untouched battalion that was force marching up from Rissala, but it would arrive too late unless someone slowed the Fusiliers down. So Calla had ordered the Snowbirds out of the line on the Chickahominy and into the Massanutten Valley.

It worried him. As a father, he rebelled against the idea of using his own daughter as one more playing piece. As a commander, he knew he had no choice. Worse, it almost felt like a setup: Calla knew that the commander of the 133rd was Star Colonel Senefa, now known as Senefa Malthus. It was undoubtedly the same woman Sheila had beaten into the mud of Planting. Calla wondered if Senefa's new name meant that she had been adopted or something by Cavell, though Sheila—using information provided by Jaime Wolf—had told him that it probably meant she had won a Bloodname, whatever the hell that was. Either way, Senefa had singlehandedly ruined any chance of a quick victory on Vantaa, but wrecking the Star Guards in the Valley almost seemed like an open invitation. Knowing the Clans, it probably was.

Calla's finger drifted over Sharpsburg, where he knew Cavell Malthus' headquarters was. "Damn you, Cavell, you bastard," he said quietly. "You want a fight with me, you got one. Don't drag our daughters into this."

* * *

_Massanutten Ridge_

_18 km north of New Market, Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_15 June 3051_

Sheila Arla-Vlata remembered that, as a child growing up on Grunwald, she had gone on what the locals called a _volksmarch,_ a ten kilometer walk, through one of Grunwald's remaining pristine forests. It had been rainy, but beautiful: the air had smelled of pine, and the trees were so thick and tall, it had been if Sheila and her parents had been alone. She had gotten a medal at the end of it, as was tradition with _volksmarches_; that was part of the fun. She had proudly worn the medal all the way home.

Her present situation reminded her of that nature walk, as it was rainy and the outside air, filtered into her cockpit, smelled of pine. Of course, the difference was that instead of being a four foot child looking up at the trees, she was now riding atop a thirty foot BattleMech, though the forest was still taller than she was. She still hoped to win a medal, though she hoped it wouldn't be posthoumous.

Of course, no one had been hunting her during the _volksmarch,_ either.

Sheila checked off her lance as they advanced through the forest, following a dirt road that had been turned to a river of mud by the rain and 'Mechs. The forest might smell good, but her current situation didn't. It stunk of a setup. The Jade Falcons—whom Sheila knew to be the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers, commanded by Senefa Malthus—had struck again early that morning, surging out of the woods and savaging a company of the 12th Star Guards. After downing a lance, the Clans had uncharacteristically fallen back into the woods before the Star Guards could deploy, avoiding a general battle. True, the Snowbirds had been pounding up the roads to reinforce the Star Guards, but unless she had changed over the past six months, Sheila was sure that Senefa was not afraid of being outnumbered. Which meant that she planned on sucking the Snowbirds into an ambush. Unfortunately, Sheila's orders were to run the Fusiliers to ground or throw them out of the Massanutten Valley, and she couldn't do that sitting there waiting for the next attack.

She did have one advantage, however. A few of the Snowbirds' 'Mechs had been upgraded during the lull, including Frederick Matria's heavily modified _Chameleon._ Besides now sporting double heat sinks and heavier armor and armament than the venerable training 'Mech, Matria's machine also had a Beagle Active Probe. If the Jade Falcons were waiting, the Probe would detect them in time to avoid an ambush; if the Falcons were jamming, it would detect that as well. Sheila's Alpha Company moved in a skirmish triangle, with Tessya Blackthorn's Recon Lance, including Matria, at the apex, supported by Sheila's Command Lance on the left and Max's Heavy Lance on the right. Beta Company was out to Sheila's left, moving ahead slightly faster, with a Star Guard company on the Snowbirds' right flank. If any company was hit, the other two would turn in support; if Sheila's was struck, the two flank companies would curve in to surround the Clans. Sheila wished she had another company in support coming up behind the Fusiliers, but that required knowing where the Fusiliers were. Marion Rhialla was temporarily commanding Beta Company, as Elfa Brownoak's balky LAMs were once more down for maintenance; Sheila sorely missed having the highly mobile LAMs available. As it was, the companies had to pause on occasion to keep from being strung out, especially with the assault 'Mechs, which were finding the terrain slow going indeed.

"Talisman Lead to Snowbird Actual." Tessya's voice snapped Sheila out of her reverie.

"Go, Talisman," Sheila radioed back.

"Visual contact with enemy, grid square 34-56." Sheila quickly glanced at a secondary monitor on her instrument panel, calling up those coordinates. That was ahead of the Snowbirds, slightly southeast. "Enemy strength one Star, mixed lights and mediums. They are moving southwest, on top of Massanutten Ridge. I don't think they've seen us."

Sheila considered that. Light and medium OmniMechs usually meant a recon Star. It didn't make sense for them to be out alone, so either they were looking for the Snowbirds themselves, or they were leading an advance. Sheila traced the map with a gloved finger. If the Falcons kept following their route, they would end up behind where the Star Guards were advancing north up the Valley. _Flank march,_ Sheila thought. _Senefa fakes us out by thinking she's pulled back to the woods, when she's actually moving to get behind us. That would put the main body of her force about…here._ "Talisman, maintain contact, but stay out of sight if you can—no jumping."

"Roger."

Sheila switched frequencies and quickly issued orders. Now Marion would pick up the pace, pivoting southeast, while Sheila's company moved due east. One or the other would make contact and start the battle. The Star Guard company fell back slightly: if they were already detected, it might make the Falcons get overly aggressive; if not, then the recon Star might be drawn further into an ambush itself. Sheila herself moved her 'Mech slowly, not even half of her cruising speed, trying not to knock any trees over. As it was, Max's _Battlemaster_ and Charles Badaxe's _Atlas_ were literally cutting a swath through the woods. A startled flock of birds fluttered into the air, but there was nothing she could do about that, other than hope the Clanners weren't looking in her direction.

Half a kilometer ahead of Sheila, Tessya Blackthorn took a quick drink of water from a straw that led back to a small tank behind her seat, then shifted around to try to relieve an itch on her bottom. She was experienced enough that neither action caused her _Wasp_ to hesitate or slip; the small 'Mech, half the size of Sheila's heavy _Shruiken _and less than a third of its weight, had no trouble negotiating the woods. She had lost sight of two of her lancemates, Tinyak Fernplanter's _Unicorn_ and Philip Scott's new _Aquarius_, but still had sight of Matria's _Chameleon._ Their camouflage blended well with the forest, though it was difficult at best to hide something that topped out at over fifteen feet and weighed between twenty and fifty tons. Movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to bring her 'Mech to a halt and slightly crouch. "Talisman Four from Lead. Hold up." She had spotted the Clan recon Star, and Matria was getting too close. Beagle Probe emissions could be detected; it beeped like sonar in her earphones, and she didn't want to lose surprise. Now that she was closer, she could make out the Clan types: a _Koshi_ in the lead, backed up by two _Ullers_, a _Fenris,_ and a _Dragonfly._ They were looking in the wrong direction to see her, but Tessya still felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The loose, almost sloppy formation of the Clan 'Mechs was no big deal, as the woods tended to make a hash out of any formation. Then Tessya realized what it was: the Falcons were moving on top of the ridge, silhouetted against the skyline. For a green unit, that was an easy mistake to make, but no veteran worth their salt did something like that: they moved beneath the skyline so as not to make an easy target. "Talisman Lead to lance. Fall back slowly on my position."

"Three to Lead. Say again?" Tinyak asked.

"Something's not right here, Three. Fall back."

"Talisman, Snowbird Actual," Sheila radioed. "Sitrep."

Tessya was about to answer when all hell broke loose. The first warning they had of the ambush was when autocannon fire chattered out of the woods and ripped into the left side of Matria's _Chameleon._ Somehow the 'Mech stayed on its feet and he hit his jumpjets to get free. Tessya instantly fired back at the base of the autocannon tracers, but when she saw the _Masakari _step out of the forest, her single medium laser and two SRMs were like throwing a pie at a freight train.

"Snowbirds from Talisman Lead!" Tessya screamed, slapping the switches for a wideband transmission. "Enemy contact! Enemy contact! It's a trap!"

* * *

Everyone heard the report. "Talisman!" Sheila shouted. "Get the hell out of there!" When there was no answer, she stepped down on the foot pedals and ran the _Shuiken_ up to full speed, the trees now nothing but a minor obstacle as she crashed through them. As she did so, her fingers moved radio frequencies. "Tigerstripe from Snowbird! Talisman's run into trouble—move southeast!"

There was a brief pause, then Rhialla replied, "Love to, Snowbird, but they just hit us too." To her left, Sheila saw a fireball climb into the air. "Engaging two heavy Stars over here. Just lost Nutter." Her voice was calm.

A quick vision of Terry Nutter's newborn child flickered through Sheila's mind. _Oh God, no,_ Sheila thought for a moment, but then shut those thoughts away. She had to get the Star Guards, then. "Roger that. Break, break. Pulsar Six, this is Snowbird—" She winced as high-pitched static whistled through her ears; the Clans were jamming her. "Shit! Max, can you hear me?"

Max's voice came through loud and clear. "Five square, Snowbird. We're moving up."

"Move your ass, Snowbirds!" Tessya's voice shrilled. "We're engaged with fucking assault 'Mechs up here!"

Sheila almost told her to calm down, but decided it was not a time to be calm. The forest thinned ahead, mainly because two minutes of combat had already blown down half of it. She could see Matria, his armor blackened and one arm missing, limping backwards. Her proximity sensor beeped and Sheila spotted a _Loki_ advancing from the woods, its weapon arms raised at the _Chameleon._ Planting one foot down, Sheila skidded the _Shruiken_ to a halt, turned, aimed, and fired both her PPCs. Her snap shot connected, one bolt going to the torso and the other to the squat head. Somehow, the Clan warrior stayed upright, but his shots went wild and it staggered back. "Talisman Four, you okay?" she radioed Matria.

"I'm okay," Matria replied, puffing with exertion. "Lost the right arm and my large laser, but I've still got my smalls and the mediums."

"Fall back to the rally point." By the look of his armor, Matria couldn't take much more pounding, and he would have to get in close to bring his weapons to bear, which would be suicidal in his condition. Sheila turned her attention back to the wounded _Loki_ as the rest of her lance arrived on the scene. The Clanner stopped to fight, but now drew the attention of Kaatha's _Griffin,_ which unloaded a flight of LRMs, and Felisanna's _Wolfhound_, firing its large laser. The _Loki's_ PPCs flayed armor from the _Griffin's_ chest and right leg, but Kaatha ignored the damage.

Sheila abruptly felt as if her 'Mech had been kicked as a Gauss ball skimmed through the woods, its supersonic passage tearing saplings out of the ground, and slammed into her left leg. _Lost half the armor there,_ she thought as she looked at the damage display. _Who fired that—ahh, there you are!_ An _Uller_ burst through a small grove of trees. Sheila dodged the two ruby medium laser beams and fired the PPCs again, ignoring the rising heat. Both bolts punched through the thinly armored light 'Mech, and a jet of blue flame roared from the now-exposed engine as the 'Mech staggered.

"That'll teach you to fuck with heavy 'Mechs, you little bastard!" Sheila crowed, but then suddenly realized the _Uller_ had friends. A _Masakari_ stomped into range, its armor also savaged from Badaxe's _Atlas_ but its quad PPCs still very much operational. Sheila forgot about the crippled _Uller_ and turned her attention to this new threat. Using an old trick, she lunged her _Shruiken_ forward, then snapped the control sticks over, causing her 'Mech to suddenly switch direction, the equivalent of a football running back throwing a head fake at a defending linebacker. Warning klaxons of a weapons lock abruptly ceased, though one of the trio of deadly blue lightning bolts still chopped into the flat chestplates of her 'Mech. _Yikes! I can't tangle with this guy,_ Sheila thought, suddenly feeling sympathy for the _Uller_ pilot. _One more hit like that and I'm in real trouble._ She dodged left and right, her own hasty laser shots missing as she tried to shake the _Masakari, _which had locked on again.

Without warning, a laser shot struck the _Masakari_ and pitched forward into the muddy earth, its PPC barrels twisting into modern sculpture as they dug into the ground. It remained there, unmoving, its rear end stuck up comically into the air. Sheila's eyes widened: it had been a MechWarrior's dream shot, a lucky hit in the cockpit that killed the MechWarrior. They widened even more when she saw who had fired: Tessya Blackthorn's _Wasp_ bounded on jumpjets out of the forest. "Sweet shot, Tess!"

"What the hell—I got him? I was just trying to distract him!" Blackthorn landed next to Sheila. "Wow. I'll tell my kids about this!" Autocannon tracers shot past them. "If I live long enough, anyway."

"Fall back to the rally point, Tess. We've got to regroup." Sheila had heard nothing from Rhialla and the right flank was noticeably quiet, which meant that Rhialla's company was probably still engaged and the Star Guards were too far out of position to help. There could be a whole Cluster in the woods, and the Snowbirds were starting to become unraveled in the melee. She thumbed the radio switch; it was clear of jamming now. "Snowbirds from Actual. Break off and head for the rally point. Watch your spacing and don't let them split you up. Break. Snowbird Command, hold your position until Recon is clear. Sitrep."

"Snowbird Two here." Kaatha sounded almost bored. "One _Loki_ down. Three and Four are with me; we're fine. Am engaging another _Loki_." Sheila noticed something. Unlike the 7th Falcon Regulars at Sharpsburg, these Clanners were not picking one-on-one battles, but mixing it up with multiple targets, Inner Sphere style. Still, they were not engaging more than two at a time, as she watched the _Loki_ Kaatha was occupied with ignore Marcus Drax's _Phoenix Hawk_, despite the fact that it was leaping behind him to chip at the Clanner's rear armor with medium lasers.

Her sensors called for her attention again, and Sheila, without conscious thought, stepped her _Shruiken_ back quickly as a PPC bolt dug a divot from the ground where she had been. A _Thor_ moved into sight, and Sheila turned to engage. "Tess, get out of here; this guy's a little too much for you to handle."

"No argument here. See you at the rally." The _Wasp_ let fly a desultory flight of SRMs at the _Thor_, which was far out of range, then skipped away on ion flames. Sheila dodged another PPC shot, watched the _Thor_ do the same to her, then took cover behind a copse of intact trees. A quick half-second look at the secondary monitor saw the other three 'Mechs of her Command Lance moving forward. "Snowbird Command, bug out. We don't know what else is here."

"Roger. That other _Loki_ has pulled out; we'll do the same," Kaatha told her. Both of them ignored Felisanna's disappointed "awww" as the medium 'Mechs retreated.

"Snowbird, Canis Lead. I'll come up to support you." That was Max.

"Negative, Canis; you don't have jumpjets." Sheila exchanged another round of crisscrossing PPC bolts with the _Thor_. Max's _Battlemaster_ was at a disadvantage in poor terrain; it could get cut off all too easy. "I'm just about done here." She noticed the _Thor_ circling to close in; its right arm hung down and swayed drunkenly with the 'Mech's movements, a telltale sign of a wrecked shoulder joint. The PPC was still dangerous, as Clan versions hit harder than their Inner Sphere counterparts, but Sheila had the advantage now; all of her weapons were operational, the only weak part of her armor was her left side, and the _Thor_ was closing in from the right. Sheila turned, raising her twin PPCs in the _Shruiken_'s right arm, but this time readied her array of medium lasers as well. If she got in some good shots this time, and the _Thor_ was unable to reply, there might be time to finish off her opponent before she had to leave. Quick movements to her left attracted her eyes, and Sheila saw a squad of Elementals leaping like their toad nicknames through the woods, but they were well out of range. Both her and the _Thor_ were close now, close enough to read the tactical symbology on each other's chests.

Then the crippled right arm suddenly snapped up and a torrent of heavy autocannon shells vomited from the wide mouth of the weapons pod. Sheila screamed and twisted backwards.

It saved her life. Instead of the autocannon shells tearing off her head and most of the _Shruiken_'s upper torso, they ripped into the 'Mech's belly. That was bad enough: the Ultra AC/20 was by far the deadliest weapon in the Clan arsenal, and it shredded the armor away in great rents. Alarms assaulted Sheila's ears, announcing the loss of all center torso armor, and the computer helpfully let her know that her gyro had suffered damage—as if the control sticks being wrenched out of her hands wasn't warning enough. Sheila kept upright only by stomping the left foot pedal and planting the _Shruiken_'s left foot. Her return fire somehow connected and kept the _Thor_ back.

_Another hit and I'm toast!_ Sheila thought with fright. She looked at the _Thor_, which was trying to get at her left side now. _You tricky son of a bitch. Well, I'll give you credit for faking me out, but I'm not going to hang around._ Jumping with a damaged gyro was risky, but there was no way she would outrun the _Thor_ without being hit once more. _Two jumps and I'll be by Max. If this SOB wants to tangle with a _Battlemaster, _he can sure try._ Resisting the urge to give her opponent the finger, Sheila kicked the jump pedals.

The silence was deafening.

Sheila struck the pedals again. The _Shruiken's_ computer noticed the problem, and reported in a female sounding voice, "Jumpjet failure. Jumpjets inoperative."

"What the hell? That's impossible!" Sheila hit the pedals a third time, but still nothing happened. She had never heard of a complete jumpjet failure without damage to the exhaust ports; there was no damage there. The _Thor _began to close, so she threw a barrage of her 'Mech's namesake stars, splashing Inferno fluid over the Clan machine. The terrible autocannon and a flight of SRMs missed. Sheila began backwalking the _Shruiken._ "Max!" she yelled over the open channel. "My jumpjets are out! I don't know what happened, but I'm in deep shit! I'm engaged with a _Thor_ and there's Elementals—" She broke off the transmission as the _Thor_ suddenly crouched and sprinted forward.

Sheila's mouth fell open. Clanfolk never engaged in physical attacks; Wolf had told her they considered the practice dishonorable and barbaric. Yet here was one Clan warrior who was charging straight at her. Panicking, Sheila fired everything she had, even as the heat overwhelmed her heat sinks and the computer warned of a shutdown. The _Thor_ took heavy damage but did not stop. All Sheila could do was tense and wait for the impact.

When it came, it felt like someone had hit the side of her helmet with a sledgehammer. The _Shruiken_ doubled up and then actually flew backwards, leveling a line of trees and careening down a small hill. Sheila was thrown forward in her seat from the impact, then flung backwards with the landing. Stars exploded in front of her eyes and she felt like her body had been turned to jelly. Through ringing ears, she heard the computer—still somehow operational—telling her that the gyro was now completely gone and the engine damaged as well. Woozily, she reached upwards for the ejection handles and pulled, although ejecting from a prone 'Mech was a good way to get killed. Nothing happened, and Sheila detachedly remembered that the _Shruiken's_ ejection system was designed in the same way as the _Wolfhound's_ and the _Hatchetman's:_ the 'Mech had to be upright as the entire head detached to become an escape capsule. With her gyro gone, there was no chance of ejecting: she would have to crawl out. Luckily, this was a fairly easy proposition as the canopy had shattered. She hit the release button on the seat harness and tried to key the radio to let Max know, but the radio was gone as well, the antennae crushed beneath the _Shruiken_'s head. Sheila shakily stood up on the seat, hearing the booming thumps of a 'Mech approaching; her hopes that it was her husband's _Battlemaster_ were dashed when she saw the offset cockpit and missile drum of the _Thor_ top the hill.

_Move, Sheila, move!_ she shouted at herself, but everything seemed to be taking so long; her limbs felt immersed in mud. Somehow she was out of the cockpit and draped over the wolflike nose of her 'Mech, but as she reached for the shoulder to roll off her downed machine, something landed right behind her and a wave of heat washed over her legs. She twisted around and looked squarely into the viewport of an Elemental. Sheila didn't wear a gun in the cockpit, and there was no time to get to it even if she had. She began to raise her hands in surrender, but the Elemental picked her up with its claw and threw her off the _Shruiken_. Sheila had a brief vision of the world spinning around her, brown mud, and then the feeling of rain on her face as she lay on the ground, staring up at a leaden sky. As the blackness crowded her vision, she could distantly hear a feminine voice shouting over the _Thor's_ loudspeakers to leave her alone. With one last, blinding flash of clarity before unconsciousness mercifully took her, Sheila recognized the voice.

_I kin death for thee, Snowbird._


	2. Of Snowbirds and Falcons

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: I got a case of writer's block along with the holidays, so I had trouble getting this chapter going. This one's a little shorter than the last. Rouge, thanks for the review. I just like to write…it'll do until I can get something real published._

_Sentinels General Headquarters, Cold Harbour_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_16 June 3051_

"I called you all here for one reason and one reason alone," Max Canis-Vlata said. "You know what that is. Sheila is a POW, and we have to free her."

He could see them shift uncomfortably at his words. All of the Snowbirds were present, save three: Terry Nutter, who had died on the operating table; Charles Badaxe, who was in the hospital after tangling with another _Masakari_, but expected to recover; and Sheila Arla-Vlata, who was a prisoner. In the space of three hours, the Snowbirds had experienced their first three casualties. They had lost 'Mechs before, and MechWarriors had been hurt, but never enough to be put into intensive care. They had never lost a man.

And their commander was a prisoner.

Elfa Brownoak, in temporary command of the Snowbirds after Sheila's loss, stepped forward from the assembled crowd. "Max," she said gently, "we all want Sheila back, but we have to look at the situation. Because the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers gave us such a bloody nose, we've had to abandon the Massanutten Valley, which forced us back from the Chickahominy. Sure, we're going to a new position on the Rapidan, but still—we can't just divert the entire battalion!"

"I'm not saying that, Elfa," Max countered, trying to keep his temper under control. "We can't move the whole battalion out of the line and head north—I know that. We'd never make it even halfway to Sharpsburg. We just need a few."

"Who? How?" Elfa asked.

"I don't know yet, dammit!" Max shouted. "God, do you think I've got all the answers? All I know is, the Falcons have Sheila!"

"And a lot of other people too," Elfa said. "Or have you forgotten? Or don't you care?"

_No, _Max thought, _I don't love those people._ He knew he wasn't acting rationally. It was true that there were many Vantaa Militia and Star Guards, and a few Sentinels as well, already being held in a known prisoner of war camp near Sharpsburg. The camp was also close to the Sharpsburg DropPort, and no one knew if that was merely convienience, coincidence, or that the Clans were planning to move their prisoners offworld. Few prisoners of the Clans had been able to escape, mostly when Twycross and Planting were retaken, but it was known that the Clans put their POWs to work, and usually moved them offplanet to prevent escape attempts exactly like the one Max was planning. Max was certain that a high-profile prisoner like Sheila would not be kept within reach long. If she was taken off Vantaa, it was almost certain he would never see her again.

The liberated prisoners had told of other things as well. Officers were often tortured. The Clans might have used the act of simple inquiry to ascertain what forces were on a world, but apparently all bets were off once planetfall was made. Those few officers who were still onplanet when liberated had told of being subjected to chemical torture, mind-altering agents that made it almost impossible to lie, but also caused short-term neurological damage. Some had been beaten. A few had been simply shot, though the latter was rare. Descendants of the SLDF or not, the Clans obviously didn't consider themselves signatories of the Ares Conventions or bound by them. Which meant, in a thought that chilled Max's blood, that Sheila could be being tortured as they spoke.

"Of course I care," Max told Elfa after awhile. "We can free them, too."

"And get most of them killed in an escape attempt," Kaatha put in. "Max, I want her back almost as much as you do, but roaring into that camp guns blazing is only going to get people killed!"

"I do not _believe_ this!" Felisanna stood, eyes blazing. In defiance of every uniform regulation there was, she had recently gotten a neopunk mohawk and dyed it pink. She stomped down the steps she had been sitting on, to stand next to Max. "Sheila is our commander. If it was one of you in the slammer, she'd be screaming her head off to get together a recovery mission, not sitting on her ass like _some_ people!"

"You be quiet!" Kaatha yelled at her daughter. Felisanna balled her fists and took a step forward.

"_Enough!"_ Marion Rhialla's voice cracked across the auditorium they met in. Instant silence reigned. She got up and stood facing them. "Listen to us," she growled. "We sound like a bunch of fucking old women. Well, I _am_ an old woman, and I say that both of you are right!"

There was silence for another ten seconds, and then both Max and Elfa said, "Huh?" simutaneously.

"The Sentinel Light Infantry can go in and get her," Rhialla explained. "That's what they're trained for, after all. I think the Old Man wouldn't have a problem with that."

"Hey, yeah," Tooriu Kku spoke up. "The SLI can get in and out without breaking through their deodorant. The Clans won't even know Sheila's gone before she's a long ways off."

"I hate to be the devil's advocate," Elfa said, "but if the Clans know who Sheila is—and given that she piloted a unique 'Mech, they have to know—they're going to put her under the closest guard they can. Which means that she's probably smack dab in the middle of Sharpsburg, where the Clans have their headquarters. The SLI's good, but if they get trapped by 'Mechs, all we've done is add more prisoners to the bag."

"I'm with Felisanna," Tooriu growled, looking at his lover. "What's with all the gloom?"

"As temporary commander of this battalion," Elfa shot back, "I'm now responsible for you lunatics. Which means that I have to point out the flaws in the plan. I don't like this either, people! If it was up to me, we'd mount up the battalion right now and shoot our way into Sharpsburg to get Sheila. The problem is, I have to consider if that's best for the Sentinels as a whole—and how many people we'd lose in the bargain. We know that Khan dude Malthus has his headquarters unit onplanet. That means there's some mean badasses between us and Sheila. We've got to take that into account." She looked down at her boots. "We don't even know if Sheila is still on Vantaa. For that matter, we don't even know she's alive."

Max wanted to punch something, because he knew Elfa was right, except the part about Sheila being alive. He knew she was. The SLI was a great idea—Max kicked himself mentally for not having thought of it first—but Elfa was right there, as well. The SLI were light infantry, and while infiltration and objective raids was a specialty of theirs, even if they brought manpack SRMs with them, they wouldn't last long against armored Elementals and OmniMechs. "If there was only a way to get some damn 'Mechs up there!" he shouted in frustration.

"Um…there is." Maysa Bari hesitantly raised her hand. Everyone looked at her, and she blushed furiously. "Well…I was watching _Immortal Warrior VIII_ last night, and—"

"Oh, God." Kaatha covered her eyes with her hands.

"Yeah, we can't just waltz in there with bows and arrows and a manpack PPC like Immortal Dumbass does," Charles Badaxe added.

"Wait a minute!" Maysa actually stomped her feet in frustration. "Okay, yeah, it was another 'rescue the POWs from the Kuritans' transvid! But he didn't fly a Warrior H-7 in this time. He had a 'Mech. He walked it under the ocean—there was this kinda kewl sequence when a Neptune sub came after him—"

"Never mind that!" Tooriu slammed a fist into his palm. "The Clans don't have subs! That's perfect, Maysa! We can walk the battalion—"

"A company," Elfa corrected. At Tooriu's sour face, she shook her head. "We can't spare the whole battalion. A company, we can. If you run into something that a company can't take on, then the battalion won't help anyway."

"Okay, fine, a _reinforced_ company walks under the water. They pop up behind Sharpsburg, shoot their way in, we stick Sheila on a jumpseat, we walk back out. Easy."

"What if a 'Mech takes internal damage?" Elfa asked gently. She was beginning to warm to the idea.

"No one said we wouldn't get our hair mussed! I'm willing to leave my _Awesome_ and hitch a ride home."

This time it was Frederick Matria who raised a hand. "Uh, I hate to be the jerk this time, but I should point out something. Obviously we're gonna need assault 'Mechs, right? Lights and mediums will get chewed up too quick. Well, it's 40 klicks from the coast to Sharpsburg. At a run, it's going to take half an hour for assault 'Mechs at least to travel that distance. They're gonna get detected, and that's the ball game."

"Simutaneous attack," Max said. "If the SLI hits first—" Then he winced. "Damn! That won't work either. The Falcons could eat up the SLI then chew on the Snowbirds."

"There has to be a way!" Felisanna snapped.

"There is."

They turned at the sound of a new voice. Standing in the doorway to the auditorium was Nicia Caii, the Sentinels RCT's Master Tech, dressed in the traditional pocket-filled jumpsuit of a tech. She came from the light gravity world of Quantraine, and as a result she towered over everyone there, even the enormous Tooriu, though he was nearly three times as wide, and Tooriu was not fat. Because hair tended to get in the way of the hot work of repairing 'Mechs, she shaved her head completely bald. She folded her hands over her breasts and smiled. "It just so happens that we brought some gifts home from Sharpsburg, _and_ Planting."

"Such as?" Max asked.

Nicia looked at her fingernails nonchalantly. "Four Clan OmniMechs. Oh, they're a little dinged up and missing a few things, and we're supposed to turn them over to the House ASAP. However, I think I might could arrange to 'lose' them for another couple of days." Her smile widened as jaws dropped around the auditorium.

"I thought—when did _this_ happen? Why didn't anyone know?" Rhialla said in shock.

Nicia's expression turned cynical. "Because, Miss Marion Rhialla, you'd steal a rose off your grandmother's grave. The last thing I needed was to come into the 'Mech bay on some morning and find them either stripped to the bones or gone entirely. House Steiner-Davion would really have my ass in a wheelbarrow if that happened."

Rhialla opened her mouth to say something short and to the point, especially given that Sentinel techs had a reputation themselves for stealing anything not tied down, and actually opening fire on teams of rival techs who tried to salvage from a Sentinel battlefield. Max cut her off. "Four Omnis, in working condition?"

"They can be, in about three or four days. That should give you some time to come up with something more workable than a cockamaney plan ripped out of twisted minds and bad holoflicks. Come by the bay in a few minutes and you can have a look…and bring those felons you call techs." She turned and walked out with a half-wave over her shoulder. Her smile faded once she was out of sight. _Because,_ she thought, _one of them is a traitor.

* * *

_

_Jade Falcon Keshik Command Headquarters_

_Sharpsburg, Vantaa, Federated Commonwealth_

_16 June 3051_

SaKhan Cavell Malthus looked over the holomap in the tank before him, warmed by the fireplace that took up one side of the room. He had taken over a hotel in Sharpsburg as a headquarters, not for its opulence, which was considerable, but because it was the last one still undamaged and standing.

The news was, overall, good. Thanks to Senefa Malthus and her 133rd Falcon Fusiliers, he had forced the Sentinels to abandon the strong position they had held along the Chickahominy and fall back to the Rapidan. It would be slow going there, due to the thick, virgin forests along the river, but there were no man-killing bluffs that would force an enemy to advance across a water barrier under plunging fire the whole way. Moreover, he could still use the Massanutten Valley to flank the position, though that would be slightly more difficult and take longer. In any case, time was not really his enemy.

He spared a quick curse under his breath for Clan Wolf in general and Khan Ulric Kerensky in particular. Ulric had agreed to split Vantaa between them, of course, with the fastest Clan the winner. It had never occurred to Cavell that perhaps Ulric never had any intention of taking Vantaa, but instead forcing the Jade Falcons to spend the blood necessary to take it. After all, it would be paying Cavell back in his own coin for what he planned for Clan Wolf on Planting. So now, while the Jade Falcons were forced to slog through forests and hills against a determined enemy, the two Wolf Clusters assigned to assault Vantaa's planetary capital merrily orbited. So far, they had frozen the two 10th Donegal Guards battalions in place, but once the Spheroids caught on that Wolf was leaving their "comrades" to twist in the wind, that would change.

No matter, Cavell decided. He would take the freebirth world himself, and to hell with Ulric Kerensky. When Vantaa was secured, he himself would go to the Grand Council and call Ulric a coward to his face.

"My Khan?" A tech waited at a respectful distance. When Cavell had acknowledged the man's presence, the tech saluted. "Sir, Star Colonel Senefa Malthus is waiting outside." He paused. "She has a visitor as well."

"Send her in, by all means." Cavell allowed himself to smile. He had known his protégé would do well once she recovered from her slight misstep on Planting, but on Vantaa Senefa was simply phenomenal. Calla Bighorn-Vlata's sudden, mad attack on the dropzones had caught Cavell off guard, but somehow the Falcons had held, even if the Sentinels had overrun one of the zones and pushed the Falcons back into Sharpsburg itself. Though he was able to replace lost 'Mechs with the remounts brought on the DropShips, and drive the Sentinels off, he had been quite vulnerable once the Sentinels caught their breath. In the space of only a few days, Senefa's aggressive actions in the Valley, despite being outnumbered and in constant danger of being cut off, had savaged the 12th Star Guards and bloodied the Sentinels as well, returning the initiative squarely to the Jade Falcons. And now she had even captured her nemesis, Sheila Arla-Vlata, Calla's daughter. Yes, Senefa was doing well. She already had her Bloodname and her Cluster. If things continued to go well, Cavell might could arrange a Galaxy command for her. And then saKhan? Why not? If the Nova Cats managed to kill the ancient Elias Crichell, the Clan would be Cavell's. He would arrange to put the hated Vandervahn Chistu out to pasture and Senefa in his place.

He pushed those thoughts from his mind as Senefa walked in, a look of obvious distaste on her face. Trailing in her wake was a man dressed in a suit of green, a much lighter green than that of Senefa's uniform and plumed cape. The suit was cut in an Asian style, with a mandarin collar and slightly baggy pants that stood out against the crisp, military trousers everyone else in the room wore. He was also something few Clanfolk were: fat, though he tried mightily to hide it. The man himself was not Asian; his skin was pale and he was sweating nervously, but he had pasted an obviously artificial smile on his face. As they drew closer, Cavell noticed the emblem embroidered on his chest: a mailed fist holding a curved sword, against a green triangle bordered in yellow. Dimly, Cavell remembered from ancient transvids that this was the symbol of the smallest of the so-called Successor States, House Liao.

Cavell ignored him and turned a genuine smile on Senefa. "Star Colonel, you are to be congratulated on your success in the Massanutten Valley. Not only have you forced the Sentinels to retreat from the Chickahominy, you have also captured Sheila Arla-Vlata."

Senefa's smile was tight, but also no less genuine. She bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, my Khan. I was wondering when I could return to the front. Star Captain Henderson is skilled and experienced, but I would feel better if I were at my Cluster's head." She glanced sidelong at the man in green, who had enough tact to stand far enough away to give Cavell and Senefa some privacy. He had occupied himself looking around the room and exchanging pleasantries with the techs, who ignored him; they had also switched off the holotank. If the man was a spy, he would carry nothing back to enemy lines. Cavell chuckled softly when he saw the Liaoist looking more than a little nervously at the hulking, fully-armored Elemental who stood at the doorway.

Cavell dropped his voice. "Your losses?" he said in a whisper.

"Two Stars, though the techs believe we can salvage over half of those."

"Good. Your wounded?"

"I brought them back with me, ovkhan. Local doctors are rather unenthusiastic about treating them."

"Aff." That was a problem that was becoming increasingly annoying, and one the Jade Falcons were not really equipped to deal with. Despite Cavell's orders to treat the civilian population with respect, the locals seemed none too pleased with being "liberated" by the Clans. Around Sharpsburg, this was confined to a few acts of vandalism and the occasional rock or dog droppings hurled at the Keshik's Elementals. Even though three young people had already been killed by Elementals, who were not inclined to simply ignore any projectiles thrown in their direction, that had enflamed the populace even more rather than cowing them. Closer to the lines, the problem was worse. Vantaa militiamen who had been cut off or their units overrun had not surrendered, but taken to the hills. Even though they were armed with light weapons, sniper attacks and mortar shells lobbed into Clan laagers had already forced the Jade Falcons into not going beyond their encampments in groups smaller than five people. Towns were quieter—the militia seemed reluctant to let civilians get caught in the crossfire—but there the locals were sullen and did everything they could to ignore the Falcons entirely. Clanfolk seeking food were forced to pay exorbitant prices and doctors seemed to find other places to be rather than treat Clan wounded. Cavell had ordered his troops to take what they needed if the locals proved uncooperative and to force doctors to work at gunpoint, knowing that this would not improve the situation, but needing supplies more. If it continued, he would be forced into making an example.

Cavell dismissed those thoughts as counterproductive and returned his full attention to Senefa. "And what of Sheila Arla-Vlata?"

"She was slightly wounded in our combat. The medtechs believe she suffered a concussion, and advise that we not use any sort of chemicals to interrogate her. I was about to question her."

"That is fine." Cavell figured they would get little from Arla-Vlata in any case. She was only a battalion commander, and though Clan medtechs were trained in the art of chemical torture—Cavell had seen the tapes of how they had broken a hard case like Phelan Wolf—there was probably little Sheila knew of use. The tactical situation had already changed in the 24 hours since she had been captured. "I do not want her damaged." He said it nonchalantly, but it was a warning to Senefa.

"She will not be. I merely want her to know her situation, _quiaff?_"

_And who placed her in it,_ Cavell thought. Senefa was trying not to show it, keeping her usual cool reserve, but Cavell could tell that capturing her nemesis meant far more to her than her victory in the Massanutten Valley, perhaps more than anything but her Bloodname. "Aff." Finally Cavell turned his attention to the Liao man. "Who is he?"

"Oh." Senefa grimaced. "He is a worm."

"That I can see, _quiaff?_ But which worm is he?"

"An emissary from the Capellan Confederation, House Liao, ovkhan. He surrendered to us outside Winchester, and said he would speak with only you. He has verigraphed orders from his leader, and says neither Marshal Sarah Steiner nor Commander Calla Bighorn-Vlata knows of his mission." Senefa looked like she wanted to spit. "He is no warrior, of that I can assure you, my Khan. He has done nothing but chew my ear and mouth platitudes since we took him."

"A diplomat." Cavell sighed. "Well, I suppose politeness requires I at least hear him out. Perhaps he has something of use." Cavell personally doubted that. "Dismissed, Star Colonel—unless you want to listen to the man."

"Only if ordered, my Khan. I have already heard enough of his talk."

Cavell laughed softly. "Very well, then. Dismissed. Tell me what Arla-Vlata says—we shall have dinner tonight, if that is agreeable."

"It is." Senefa came to attention, saluted, then strode from the room. Cavell could not help but notice the way the Jade Falcon uniform hugged Senefa's rather shapely legs. To his surprise, he felt ashamed for having the feelings of a normal man—indeed, it would not be unusual in the slightest if he were to ask Senefa to couple with him after dinner, nor surprising if she accepted. Their difference in rank would be the only reason any other Clanfolk might frown upon it, but again it was not unknown; Elias Crichell was not _all_ cybernetic parts and skin grafts, and it was known that he preferred his lovers barely out of the sibko, let alone anything close to his own rank. Yet to Cavell, the idea of sleeping with Senefa turned his stomach, almost as if it was incestous.

Smiling wryly to himself at _that_ thought, he walked over to the Liaoist. "I am told you were sent her to speak with me." He saw no reason for formal niceties.

The Liao man turned to him, the grin instantly returning, followed by a deep bow. "It is a honor and pleasure to finally meet you, Khan Cavell Malthus, leader of the Jade Falcons!"

Faces colored all over the headquarters, Cavell's among them. When the man finally straightened up, Cavell cleared his throat. "You are misinformed, sir. I am merely second-in-command of the Clan, not its leader."

The man bowed again, less deeply this time. "Forgive me, Khan Malthus…though you are the leader of Jade Falcon forces here on Vantaa."

"That is true. What brings you here, Mister…?"

"Ah, forgive me, Khan Malthus. I am Douglas Everson, and I come at the request of the Dear Leader of House Liao, Her Highness Chancellor Romano Liao." He reached into his sleeve and produced a roll of paper so quickly that the Elemental came close to gunning him down. It was a formal scroll, and he unrolled it, clearing his throat. "Her Celestial Wisdom bids you welcome to the Inner Sphere, and regrets that she could only send this unworthy one to entreat with you. She also deeply regrets the war that is currently being waged, and hopes that the futile aggression of the Federated Commonwealth have not closed your ears to peace." Cavell could not keep the look of shock off his face. The Clans had started this war, unashamedly so; if anything, he preferred the Federated Commonwealth to be aggressive. "With this in mind, she would like to begin negotiations for a nonaggression treaty between Clan Jade Falcon, House Liao, and the Isle of Skye."

It was so staggering that Cavell motioned for the scroll. Everson happily handed it over. Looking over it, Cavell could see that the man was quite serious. The scroll was in formal handwriting, though by its blocking it was almost certainly not written by the Chancellor herself. The signature at the bottom was, however, in both English and Chinese characters, and bore the holographic sheen of an unforgeable verigraph. Cavell found himself in the unlikely position of being on the defensive to this fat joke of a person. "I, ah…" He fought for time. "As I recall, the Isle of Skye was not independent." The Clans _had_ been cut off from recent news of the Inner Sphere; had their enemies began to unravel?

"It is not, my lord—not yet. However, there are some elements within it who have no truck with the Clans, and indeed would prefer an alliance with them rather than continued subjugation under the boot of Hanse Davion. There are _many_ who feel this way in House Steiner, my lord." Everson nodded, as if to reassure himself that was true. "Moreover, Chancellor Liao feels that we have a common enemy in Hanse Davion. With the Clans pressing him on one front and Liao troops on the other, we can crush the Fox between us."

_Who is this Fox he's referring to? Hanse Davion? Interesting._ Cavell remembered something from Phelan Wolf's interrogation. "I had thought that House Liao was allied to House Kurita, who is fighting _my_ allies, the Smoke Jaguars." He noticed he was not alone in fighting down a smile at that one; the Smoke Jaguars were about as allied as Liao and Davion were.

"My Dear Leader believes they too can be induced into an alliance as well, my lord."

"I see," Cavell said, although he did not; the samurai of House Kurita were not likely to cave in to the Smoke Jaguars, and more power to them. "If the Isle of Skye should rebel and succeed, what do they offer the Clans?"

Everson was at something of a loss at that. Finally, he said, "I do not know the particulars, my lord. I am only an emissary. I can only speculate—"

"Then do so." Cavell's voice was suddenly hard.

"Ah, I believe they will pledge to a nonaggression pact…possibly free passage through their territory in return for no occupying force, or ah, perhaps a token one." Everson smiled hugely again. "But please, my lord! Such details can wait. If you are interested, perhaps you can send an emissary with me! I have ways off Vantaa the onplanet forces have no idea about. It would be child's play to get your emissary to the court on Sian in less than three months!" Cavell was not reacting, so Everson decided to sugarcoat it a bit. "We have spies everywhere, Khan Malthus! Even within the Sentinels themselves!"

Actually, Cavell was ignoring him, thinking about the possibilities. What this silly man did not know, indeed no Spheroid could know, was that the Clans were intent on one target, and one only: Terra itself. The rest of the Inner Sphere would fall as well, but first was Terra, the cradle of humanity and the true seat of the Star League. According to Clan law, the first Clan to reach Terra would become the ilClan, the Clan exalted above others and the one able to impose its will on the others. An independent, friendly Isle of Skye would make it quite simple to leap ahead of even Clan Wolf and reach Terra first. The Khan that did that would win immortality, which was really the best any Clan warrior could hope for.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, Cavell dismissed the idea. If he reached Terra that way, his victory would always be tainted. While the other Clans fought their way through to the prize, he would use treachery and _diplomacy_ to gain it. Elias Crichell might be willing to make that sacrifice, but not Cavell Malthus, who was indeed a Clan warrior. There was no honor in it. In practical terms, he doubted that Skye could even do such a thing, if the entire province was not united in the idea of secession—and given the way Skye units had fought against the Clans, Cavell was not as inclined as Everson to believe that they would simply let the Clans waltz through. This was either a betrayal waiting to happen, or wishful thinking. Either way, Cavell would have none of it, even if he had the power and authority to agree to it, which he did not.

He was brought back to the here and now by Everson's last words. "Spies, you said?"

"Oh yes, my lord." Everson was relieved. He had seen the play of emotions on Cavell's face and had not been encouraged. "House Liao's matchless intelligence service, the Maskirovka, infiltrated several spies into the Sentinels years ago. Even now, they engage in acts of sabotage and intelligence gathering—a resource that could be turned to your benefit, my lord." Everson felt better now; he had been briefed to sell this point to Malthus, and was back on home ground.

"What?" Cavell's face flushed with anger. "Sabotage?"

"Why, yes, my lord." Everson was confused; how was this not a good thing? "It is common practice in the Inner Sphere."

"It is not common practice in the Clans!" Cavell was infuriated. If the Sentinels were being crippled by equipment failures, then that tainted Senefa's victory in the Valley, and would indeed taint the entire conquest of Vantaa. The Wolves would learn of it—undoubtedly through their ComStar allies—and the Jade Falcons would never hear the end of how they needed the help of filthy spies to win a battle.

Everson had survived in the court of Sian, and the way to do that was to ingratiate himself with Romano Liao; seeing the same sort of fury on the Clan leader's face, it was time to do the same. He bowed deeply, almost kowtowing. "A thousand pardons, Khan Malthus! We were not informed of this. We had no idea the Clans felt so. We shall instruct our spies to withdraw immediately! As I said, we can easily do this, as easily as we can send your emissary to Sian—"

"I have no intention of sending _anything_ to Sian but an invasion force!" Cavell roared.

This time, Everson did kowtow. "Please, Khan Malthus, forgive this unworthy one. There is much we can learn from each other. We should not be enemies. I can help you, my lord!" Everson scrambled for some sort of assurance. "Such as this Sheila Arla-Vlata! Are you aware that she was a member of the Junior Officers' Strategy Group?"

Cavell stayed his first reaction, which was to deliver a boot to Everson's face. "And what is that?" he asked coldly. "Get up, you fool!"

Everson got to his feet with one last bow. He licked his lips nervously. "Sir. The JOSG was a think-tank made up of Steiner, Davion, and mercenary officers, all of them young people, in an effort to find new strategies and tactics to defeat the Clans. It was thought that, as older officers were used to fighting enemies such as Houses Liao, Marik, and Kurita, that younger officers might not be as bound by practice and tradition." It was obvious that Everson was reciting from memory. "Sheila Arla-Vlata, given her success in small unit actions on Persistence and Rasalhague, and her status as a Nagelring classmate to Prince Victor Steiner-Davion, was brought onboard. She is also recently returned from Outreach, where all the leaders of the Inner Sphere are currently planning a new defense strategy for the resumption of war with the Clans. She was involved intimately with training the heirs to the Successor States, my lord."

Cavell looked at Everson. That was interesting. Interesting indeed. Still, he would have to wait until Arla-Vlata was recovered from her wounds before he could ascertain for certain; using drugs on her now would be more likely to kill her rather than make her talk, and Cavell very much wanted Sheila Arla-Vlata alive. Now even more so. He nodded absently, making Everson fight down a sigh of relief.

"Elemental Star Commander Vornzel," Cavell spoke.

The Elemental instantly came to attention. "My Khan!"

"Please escort Mr. Everson outside…"

Everson grinned. "I am glad we could come to an agreement, Khan Malthus—"

"…and shoot him." Cavell gave Everson a pitiless gaze. "I, sir, do not truck with rebels, or traitors, or spies, or saboteurs—and certainly not liars." He tossed the scroll into the fire as Vornzel grabbed the screaming emissary with the Elemental suit's claw and dragged him out the door. He ordered the holotank switched back on as a muffled gunshot was heard. The Liaoist had been useless, but his information was a different story.


	3. Darkness Falls

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, third chapter. The incident with the Savannah Master later on actually happened in a Battletech game I played some years ago, with the same results. Also, the quote from the Vantaa Militia commander is loosely based on the words of the commander of the Marine garrison at Wake Island, shortly before they were overrun by the Japanese, almost exactly 66 years ago._

_Mosin—thanks. I'm trying to convey the confusion of two peoples who are very much alien to each other. Hopefully I did the same in this chapter, in the frustration of Senefa Malthus to get Sheila to understand her new situation. And Bien, good to see you back! You had me worried there for a bit. I will try and update as much as I can, but it _is _Christmas and I'm having to work a lot of shifts to pay for it all…_

_Anyhow, onto the story.

* * *

_

_Sharpsburg General Hospital_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_16 June 3051_

Senefa Malthus walked down the corridor, alone. The Elementals at the entrance had advised her not to travel alone, with the unrest even in the ruins of the city, but she had brushed off their warnings. It was unlikely any of the doctors would attack her, given that they treated Clan warriors as well as Inner Sphere ones, and civilians, and even if they did Senefa was quite confident she could handle any threat. Her collapsible staff was at her side. Still, she noticed the looks of hate she got from the hospital staff. That did not surprise her. After all, the Jade Falcons had come for conquest. Her comrades might try and dress up the invasion of Vantaa as a "liberation," but it was questionable what exactly they were liberating Vantaa from. The planet was not ruled by a dictator who randomly killed and tortured his own people, as Stefan Amaris had done, nor were they the barbarians in need of a guiding light, as the Crusaders occasionally claimed. Senefa mentally shrugged it off. Such concerns were not hers; she was a warrior, not a politician, and what happened to Vantaa after she left—whether things would go on pretty much as normal, with just a change of the flag as Clan Wolf was doing, or the planet would be plundered, as the Smoke Jaguars did—did not matter.

She found the security wing easily enough, guarded as it was by foot soldiers brought to Vantaa for that purpose; Cavell Malthus did not trust ComStar to administer prisoner of war camps as some Clanfolk did. She signed in and was directed to a room, which smelled of disinfectant. Inside was a doctor, a nurse making notations on a datapad, and the unconscious form of Sheila Arla-Vlata. The doctor looked up and scowled at Senefa as she came in.

"What do you want, Star Colonel?" he snapped.

"To speak with Lieutenant Commander Arla-Vlata," Senefa stated simply.

"So you can torture her?" the doctor spat. "She's recovering from a concussion and bruised ribs, and she's finally asleep. Your interrogators were in here earlier anyway."

"I know." Senefa had read the report. Sheila had been groggy and half-sedated anyway by painkillers, but she had kept to name, rank, and serial number, at least at first. The Clan medtechs had been able to draw a few more things from her, but they had not exactly been top secret: her mission (pin and stop the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers), her present assignment (commander of the Snowbirds SMCAT), what kind of 'Mech she piloted (a _Shuriken_, a type unknown to the Clans), and the present position of the Sentinels (along the Chickahominy River). Only the last was of any use, and even that had already changed. While Clan warriors were also trained to resist torture—indeed, sibko training was a kind of torture, except it was all the time—they were also told that they were tactically useless after 48 hours, because the military situation usually changed during that time.

"I've heard the stories," the doctor continued. "You shoot her up with truth serum, and she's likely to die from it in the condition she's in."

"When will she be fully recovered?"

The doctor took two steps forward and blocked any further progress by Senefa, despite the fact that she was bigger than he was. "Go to hell, Clanner. You're not touching my patient!"

"Doctor, you have my assurance she will _not_ be tortured. I give you my word as a warrior of my Clan."

"I don't believe you!"

"It does not matter if you believe me. I am only here to talk to the patient. Alone." Senefa casually let one gloved hand drop to the staff on her hip. "I am quite capable of doing you permanent damage, Doctor. That is not my wish, but if you and your nurse do not leave, I will do so." She unholstered the staff and gave it to the doctor. "There. Now you have my weapon, _quiaff?_"

The doctor hesitated, then sighed. "All right, Star Colonel. But she needs her rest. Whatever you're going to do to her in the future, at least let her have that." He glanced at Senefa's uniform. "And don't touch anything either." He motioned at the nurse, who had stood there petrified during the entire exchange, and they left.

Senefa sat down in the chair next to the bed and looked at the medical monitor above the bed. Sheila's vital signs were stable; there had been some fear of a skull fracture and she had lost some blood from the flying glass. Her skin was pale, and she looked unusual with her hair unbound. Asleep, she also looked strangely peaceful, which was quite a contrast to the bloodied, muddied, cursing opponent Senefa remembered her as. Senefa was struck at how similar they looked.

_How easy it would be,_ the Clan warrior thought, _to simply kill you right here. A simple twist of the neck, or fist to your windpipe, and it would be over in seconds. It would be so easy._ Senefa smiled thinly. _Of course, I will not do that. There is no honor in it. Nonetheless, alive, you are a threat. You know too much already._ Senefa's eyes drifted down to the green and yellow cord wrapped around Sheila's wrist. _So, they have already given you a bondcord. _Involuntarily, an image of Phelan Wolf appeared in Senefa's mind's eye.

Those thoughts were interrupted when Sheila moaned and slightly opened her eyes. They looked around the room blearily for a moment, then at Senefa. "Mother…?" she croaked.

Senefa was taken aback by that. Motherhood was something freebirths practiced, and trueborns like herself found the very thought of natural childbirth disgusting. Yet there was so much affection in the word. Curious, Senefa briefly, insanely considered playing along with the illusion. Then the eyes widened, focused, and there was no disguising anything anymore. "You," Sheila growled, and there was hate now.

"Aff." Senefa answered simply.

"Star Colonel—" Sheila broke off into a spasm of dry coughing. Instinctively, Senefa grabbed a contained of bottled water and handed it to her. Sheila took it and drank deeply, then handed it back. She chuckled wryly. "'He'll be squatting on the coals, giving drink to poor damned souls…'"

"'And I will get a swig in hell from Gunga Din,'" Senefa finished the quote. "Kipling."

"I wasn't aware they taught literature in Clan finishing schools."

"I was not aware it was a requirement at the Nagelring," Senefa countered.

"So you know that much about me."

"Aff. I have learned as much as I could about you."

"Wasn't aware I made that much of an impression."

This time it was Senefa who chuckled wryly. "No one has ever defeated me in a Circle of Equals, Sheila Arla-Vlata, before you."

"Oh." Sheila struggled and finally was able to sit up. She held her head steady with one hand. "Woo…room needs to stop spinning." She leaned back against the bedstand and wearily turned her head to look back at Senefa. "So, how's your arm?"

Senefa was not sure if she was being challenged or it was a genuine question. "All right."

"Well, my head hurts, so I suppose we're even." Sheila looked down at her hands. "In more than one way. You were in that _Thor_, weren't you?"

"_Thor?_"

"Oh…right. You Clanners call them _Summoners._"

"Yes, that was I." This was what Senefa had come to do. She had envisioned telling Sheila triumphantly that it was she who had beaten her, she who had spotted Sheila's 'Mech in the forest and hunted her down, even if it meant triggering the ambush early. Senefa had even dreamt of the day she would see Sheila face-down in the mud, weeping with shame and loss. Now, that day was here, and somehow the feeling was not there. Instead, she felt almost pity for her opponent. It had been an honorable combat, of course; Senefa took pleasure in the fact she had used Sheila's own gambit of feigning weakness against her. Senefa wanted to see Sheila humiliated, as she had been, but now that they were face to face, it did not seem right.

"You must be lousy at playing poker," Sheila said, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"I can see it in your face. You're pitying me." Sheila snorted. "Well, don't. As soon as I get healed up, I'm going to challenge you to another Circle of Equals, beat you, and waltz out of here. Deal?"

"You…" Senefa realized what Sheila met. She very nearly agreed to it. _Perhaps that is it,_ she wondered. _I beat her in her 'Mech, but their 'Mechs are inferior to ours. Hand-to-hand, the odds are even._ Yet Senefa knew that was a bargain she could not make. "I am sorry, Sheila." She pointed to the bondcord on Sheila's wrist. "You are now a bondswoman. Bondswomen cannot challenge warriors. You would be summarily killed for it."

"Bondswoman, my ass. I'm a warrior. Even you admitted that."

"You _were_ a warrior," Senefa replied hotly, glad for a reason to get angry—although she rarely did get angry. "No longer. I have defeated you."

"I'm not your fucking slave!"

That shocked Senefa out of her anger. "Of course you are not a slave!" Senefa considered it for a moment. "Though I can see where you might assume so. No, you are a prisoner, until—"

"Until I'm exchanged?"

Senefa had stopped, because there were only three ways of cutting the bondcord: death, recapture by one's former Clan, and adoption by the present Clan. "No. You will not be exchanged."

"It's…it's not uncommon among the Inner Sphere," Sheila protested. "When a campaign is over, or a war."

"I have heard this. The Clans do not practice it. You do not belong to the Sentinels or the Inner Sphere any longer, Sheila. You belong to Clan Jade Falcon. You must make peace with this and forget your former life."

"Peace!" Sheila shrilled. "My whole _life_ is back there! I'm married, for God's sake! I can't just forget that! Could you, if you were my prisoner?"

"Of course," Senefa replied. Being made a bondsman or woman was not something to desire, but there were far worse fates for Clan warriors. Senefa and her sibkin had whispered about it in the barracks, and while some of her kin preferred death to capture, they had agreed that it depended on the opponent. It really _would_ be better to die than be captured by the likes of the Smoke Jaguars or the Steel Vipers, and the Wolves one would have to at least consider the option of death. The Ghost Bears or the Nova Cats were not abhorrent, and there were other Clans that were also at least palatable. Senefa could never conceive of being captured by the Inner Sphere, much less fighting for them. Her eyebrows beetled together in confusion. "Why is this so terrible? You could—" Senefa bit back what she was about to say. _Senefa, have you gone mad?_

"I could what?"

"You…could…" Senefa took a breath, cursed herself for a fool, and continued. "You could become a Clan Jade Falcon warrior, in time."

"I _what?"_

"Yes," Senefa said, warming to the idea. Why not? "You are a skilled warrior, Sheila, and an honorable opponent. You would be a valuable addition to the Jade Falcons. And, if you pass the Trials, even become a MechWarrior again."

"Have you lost your fucking mind?" Sheila exclaimed.

"I have not! It is not unprecedented. Why, Clan Wolf adopted an Inner Sphere warrior almost a year ago—a classmate of yours, actually. Phelan Kell, I believe his name was, though now he is Phelan Wolf—"

"Phelan Kell is still _alive?"_ Sheila's eyes were as wide as saucers. "That's crazy! He was killed on Star's End almost two years ago. He disappeared…" Sheila's voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying. "My God. He joined the enemy. I knew Phelan was a jerk, but I never knew he was a traitor too."

"He is not! Why do you not see!" Senefa was infuriated. She disliked Phelan, but Sheila was not insulting the Wolf _abtakha_ as much as she was the Way of the Clans itself. "He saved the Khan of the Wolves from being killed on Radstadt. How could the Wolves not repay that and retain their honor?"

"Radstadt? You mean when Tyra Miraborg…"

"Yes, Tyra Miraborg. A brave woman, the bravest of the warriors we have seen in the Inner Sphere. Did you know her?"

"No," Sheila said. "If you think I'm going to raise my hand against my homeland, and my friends, you are insane, Senefa. I really would rather die."

Senefa was tired of the conversation, confused by Sheila's reaction, and angry at being confused. "You may get your wish." She took hold of the bondcord. "If you will not at least consider adoption, then you shall get used to this, _quiaff?_ And if you are thinking of escape, do not. We will transport you offworld, soon." She looked down at Sheila. "You are no longer Lieutenant Commander Sheila Arla-Vlata. You are merely Sheila." Senefa turned her back on her erstwhile opponent and started for the door.

"Senefa…"

Senefa looked over her shoulder. "And you will address me as Star Colonel Senefa Malthus. I have a Bloodname now."

Sheila did not seem to notice. "Where is my ring?" she asked quietly. "I had a ring…on a chain…I wore it over my cooling vest."

Senefa knew where it was. She had taken it off of Sheila's unconscious form when they had loaded her onto the VTOL that took her out of the Massanutten Valley. It was sitting on Senefa's desk in her small stateroom on the DropShip _Minerva,_ the primary DropShip of her Cluster. "I threw it away," Senefa lied. "You have no need for it any longer." She stared at Sheila, wondering what reaction it would bring. One part of Senefa hoped that Sheila would leap from the bed and fight her. Instead, Sheila drew up her knees, buried her face in her hands, and began to cry bitterly.

It did not feel at all good, and Senefa left the room.

* * *

_Front Royal_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_17 June 3051_

Star Captain Athena Henderson advanced her _Warhawk_ forward, cursing under her breath and wishing she piloted a faster 'Mech. "Charlie Alpha from Alpha Alpha. Location?"

"Distance five from target."

"Increase speed!"

"Alpha Alpha, I cannot make my 'Mechs go faster. Charlie Alpha out." Star Captain Kezumi cut off the transmission, obviously annoyed with Athena's call, the third in ten minutes.

"How dare you, you old bastard!" Athena shot back, though she did not key the microphone. Kezumi was over forty, an age at which most Jade Falcons began to consider retiring to become falconers or womb tenders, or at the very least join solahma units and hunt pirates. He was still fighting, however, because Senefa Malthus trusted him. When Athena had asked her about it, Senefa had merely replied that Kezumi did his job very efficiently, and his age did not matter as long as he continued in such a fashion. It was more of the coldly logical method in which Senefa approached everything. To a certain extent, Athena agreed with it, but it could be annoying. At Thoroughfare Gap, Athena had, with a single Star, held off two understrength companies of the 12th Star Guards, but when the Spheroids had retreated, Senefa had ordered Athena not to pursue. That was not part of their mission. Athena understood that, but she had wanted the glory. Senefa's laconic "well done" when she reported back that night was distinctly unsatisfying.

Athena checked her navigation display. She was still seven kilometers from the bridge at Front Royal. That bridge was vital to the Jade Falcons, for here the Rapidan was narrow and swift. Due to the high banks, fording it would be nearly impossible. It was easy enough to jump across, but few of the 133rd Fusiliers' 'Mechs were jump-capable. The bridge had also been reinforced to take 'Mechs, the only one between here and Marye's Heights, where the Sentinels had assumed a new position. If they took it, it would be simple to turn the flank of the Sentinels and force them away from the Rapidan. The 7th Falcon Regulars were due to assault Marye's Heights the next day, but Athena was sure a win at Front Royal would render an attack unnecessary, and add yet more laurels to the 133rd's record—and to her own. A cold fish Senefa Malthus might be, but she had trusted Athena with command of the Cluster while she was in Sharpsburg, and Athena would deliver. Senefa's obsession with Sheila Arla-Vlata Athena found disturbing, but if that got her a Cluster command, Athena would have to thank the Inner Sphere warrior.

"Alpha Alpha from Charlie Alpha. I have reached Front Royal. Am engaged with one company of tanks and several companies of infantry." As if on cue, a flight of SRMs spiraled up from the treeline to Athena's right. The trees grew close to the highway here, perfect for an ambush. Athena ignored the SRMs as they exploded on her flank; still moving, she twisted and obliterated the treeline with two PPC blasts. She did not care if she actually killed anything. The objective was in sight. The Fusiliers had been dealing with random attacks all day. Partisan activity was heavy here, but all they had were rifles and occasionally SRM launchers. A threat to light 'Mechs, but not assaults.

Athena's temples abruptly throbbed, reminding her that her wound was not yet fully healed, and that even small things could be a threat. She had been closing on the strange-looking _Shruiken_, knowing the identity of its pilot and how much it meant to destroy it and kill Sheila Arla-Vlata. Seeing it was the last thing she remembered before something had struck the _Warhawk_ from behind and made everything go black. She learned later that a lowly _Wasp_ had sneaked up behind and landed a lucky shot. Her tech had, with more than annoying glee, informed her that if a meter of armor had not held under the laser's heat, Athena would have been immolated in her seat. Instead, a piece of armor had broken off, hurtled across the cockpit, and struck the side of her neurohelmet, knocking her unconscious. Her cheeks burned with the thought: a freebirth _Wasp,_ something she outweighed over four to one!

"Alpha Alpha from Delta Alpha." That would be Star Commander Lina, temporarily in command of the light Delta Trinary while Star Captain Xell was recovering from a losing battle with a Snowbird _Rifleman_. "Infantry to our rear."

"Composition?"

"Rifles only."

"Ignore." Athena briefly wished that she had not left Echo Trinary, the Fusiliers' Elemental Trinary, behind in Winchester. They would have only slowed down the Cluster, but they would have chased off the infantry. No matter. They could be called up later, if the Vantaa Militia did not retreat from Front Royal after the bridge was taken.

"Alpha Alpha, Charlie Alpha. Engaging hovertanks."

"Aff," Athena sent back to Kezumi, her anger rising. "Distance to objective."

"Three—" Kezumi was abruptly cut off. He came back online after a few maddening seconds. "Three, Alpha Alpha."

"Detach your light Star and take the bridge!" Athena shouted.

"Neg, Alpha; there are tanks there—"

"That is an order, Charlie Alpha!" Athena slapped the radio switch. Tanks! They were nothing. Had it been BattleMechs, that would be different, but tanks were weak. _He really should retire to wiping babies at both ends,_ Athena groused to herself. Well, she would have a talk with Senefa about that.

Houses appeared, and a sign announced she had reached Front Royal. It was a mountain town, and despite its name, had obviously been settled by Bavarian Germans. The houses were half-timbered and close to each other, and narrowed down. The windows were shuttered and the shops were closed, but it still retained an Old World feel to it. As Athena marched past a bakery, a top window slid open and a figure leaned out with a shotgun, opening fire. Athena laughed at the pure ridiculousness of the action and did not even bother firing back.

Suddenly, something not so ridiculous smashed the side of her _Warhawk_ and sent the control sticks flying out of her hands for a moment. The computer shrilled for her attention, reporting the loss of half the armor on her right side. She whirled around and found herself looking down the barrel of an ancient-looking Von Luckner tank. Its armor was already pitted and scored deeply from an earlier engagement. "Freebirth," Athena mumbled and opened fire with all four PPCs, ignoring the heat that sent the scale spiking and threatened to overwhelm her cooling suit. The Von Luckner was turned into flaming wreckage. She turned and had taken two steps forward when the world turned ruby red for a moment. Athena blinked away the spots that had suddenly appeared before her eyes, checked the damage monitor, and saw she had lost head armor. It had held this time, but Athena looked for her attacker. To her surprise, she saw a tiny hovertank coming towards her, little more than a cockpit, a hoverskirt, and a drive fan. It was something they had encountered before, what the Spheroids called for some reason a Savannah Master. It weighed only five tons and mounted a single medium laser. As Athena watched, the little hovertank spun on its own axis and took off down an alley. She saw red again, but not from a laser strike. Yet again, something tiny and inconsequential had nearly killed her.

With a snarl of pure frustration, Athena shoved the throttles forward, turned, and went into the alley in pursuit. It was too narrow for her huge _Warhawk_, but she managed, tearing the sides off of houses and crushing cars flat that were parked in the alley. Her targeting crosshairs projected on the windscreen before her pulsed gold, indicating a target lock, and she cut loose with a single PPC. The Savannah Master abruptly wheeled, nearly over on its side; the PPC bolt sailed harmlessly past to annilihate a dumpster, and the hovertank fired again, this time scoring light damage to her leg.

"You little _stravag_ son of a bitch!" Athena shouted, and opened fire with three PPCs this time, which would melt the hovertank to a puddle if they hit. None did, and the Savannah Master sprinted away with ridiculous ease, rounding the corner to another street. Athena ran after it, determined to obliterate the hovertank and then stomp on its remains.

"Alpha Alpha, Delta! We have broken through; objective in sight!" Kazumi's words brought her back from her rage. Athena remembered what she was supposed to be doing. She ran into the street—the Savannah Master was long gone—and raced south. The burning remains of tanks and shattered corpses of infantry now lay next to ruined houses, but they were at the river. Three hovertanks raced across the bridge; a fourth, a Pegasus, tried to follow, but Athena locked on and fired. The PPCs exploded the Pegasus, and it careened through a guardrail and into the river. Another Von Luckner backed towards the bridge, but it too exploded and Athena saw Kazumi's _Stormcrow_ step out onto the traffic circle before the bridge. "Take the bridge," Athena yelled, "take the—"

There came a thunderclap that shook the ground, and Athena had to steady her _Warhawk_. Twin fountains of water sixty meters high flew into the air, obscuring the graceful arch of the bridge across the Rapidan. Successive thunderclaps rocked them further, and Athena, her mouth open in horror, saw the arch sag and then collapse. She rushed her 'Mech forward, but it was too late. When the water subsided, the bridge was a wreck, its concrete supports blown apart and its steel twisted and charred. Steam hissed upwards as the river roiled over the remains. She saw men in green running away from the opposite side of the river, but before she could fire, one of the 133rd's _Mist Lynxes_ came into view, its machine guns cutting down the men. It stopped and waved at her with its remaining arm; the other was shot away. Athena resisted the urge to blast her own 'Mech, instead turning to face Kazumi's _Stormcrow._ "Kazumi!" she shrilled, not caring about operational security now. "What just happened here?"

"They blew the bridge, Star Captain," Kazumi replied, sounding very tired.

"I can see that, idiot! Why were you not up here?"

"Star Captain, please; we are on an open channel; the entire Cluster can hear—"

"I do not care!" Athena exploded. "I want them to hear—hear of your stupidity! Your _stupidity!_ I ordered you to send light 'Mechs to take the bridge—I see one, the _Mist Lynx_ across the river!"

"I did send them, Star Captain," Kazumi said. "Look around you."

Athena did. Piled up in successive waves towards the bridge approaches were four Clan light 'Mechs, all destroyed. Around them were the burning remains of main battle tanks—heavy Pattons and Von Luckners. All mounted heavy armament: the Clan lights were far more mobile, but their thin armor ensured that the tanks only had to hit once to score a kill or cripple their opponent. "Why were you not here to support them?" Athena asked, somewhat more calm now.

"I was engaged further up the way." Kazumi's 'Mech motioned up the street, which was little more than a rubble-filled clearing now. "They were very tenacious, Star Captain. I could not break through. I tried to flank them, use the alleys, but there were tanks and infantry everywhere."

_The townspeople,_ Athena thought with mounting anger. _They were radioing our positions to the tanks. _She looked back towards the opposite side of the bridge. The mountains gradually fell away there, and in the distance, she saw a lone Savannah Master heading up a treeless ridge in a cloud of dust. Her hands clenched to fists. "Star Captain Kazumi," she said through clenched teeth.

"Aff, Star Captain?"

"Burn the town."

There was silence for a moment, then Kazumi replied, "I am sorry, Star Captain, what did you say?"

"You heard me! Burn the town! Destroy it!"

"That is insane!" Kazumi said, horrified. "These are civilians—"

"Civilians that are firing at us with weapons and radioing in our positions!"

"We do not know that! Star Captain Athena Henderson, please, this is a war crime, we cannot destroy the town!"

"Watch me." Athena turned her _Warhawk_, selected a mostly undamaged house, and opened fire. The PPCs blew the house apart, sending timber flying through the air. Someone ran out the back, their clothes on fire and smoking. Athena twisted around, found another structure, and let fly. "Falcon Fusiliers," she radioed, "this is Star Captain Athena Henderson, acting commander. You are ordered to destroy Front Royal. I want no house left standing. If you see anyone, kill them. I want them to remember we were here. I want them to know they are not to trifle with Clan Jade Falcon!" She looked over at Kazumi. "You have your orders, Star Captain Kazumi."

"I will not obey them," Kazumi replied. "I do not make war on civilians. There is no honor in it."

"Then you will meet me in a Circle of Equals when this is over."

"Bargained well and done." Kazumi stepped back and powered down his 'Mech. Star Commander Lina's _Adder_ arrived. She could see the hesitation in the young MechWarrior's stance, then she joined Kazumi and powered down as well. Athena shook her head; Lina had such potential. Ten other 'Mechs joined Kazumi, but Athena ignored them, concentrating on razing Front Royal.

* * *

"Oh God." Max lowered the binoculars and stood. He was far away on a ridge surrounded by forest. There was no way the Jade Falcons could see him, but every instinct in his body screamed at him to run down there and do something. Of course there was nothing he or the other five MechWarriors could do, or even the 21 members of the Sentinels Light Infantry that surrounded them. Front Royal was doomed.

Major Mikkansia Jackson walked up to him. "Come on, Major. We have to go. The Falcons will likely comb these hills for survivors, and we've only light weapons." She paled at the sight of a bakery going up in an explosion. They had rode through Front Royal barely half an hour ago; the townspeople had been discreet enough not to cheer, but they had given the small band fresh bread and sweets. Mikkansia had talked to the Vantaa Militia commander of the town garrison. The man had known they had little chance of surviving, but only had to hold long enough for the bridge to be blown. "We may end up eating iron rations behind barbed wire," the commander had said, "but we'll make 'em pay for it." They had, and this was the result.

"We gotta do something!" Tooriu Kku shouted. "Look!"

"With what?" Max snapped. "We've got rifles and light machineguns, Tooriu."

Tooriu bent a sapling in half, clearly wishing he had his _Awesome_ rather than the combat shotgun he had slung over one shoulder. He let loose a string of curses, then mounted his horse. The MechWarriors had gotten a crash course in riding from the SLI and Vantaa Militia, who were using the animals to get around the countryside. It was quieter and less revealing than hovertanks or ground vehicles. "Okay," he growled, patting the mane of the horse to soothe it. "But after we get Sheila back, the Falcons are due for payback. Big time."

"Damn right," Max said, and accepted a hand onto the back of Mikkansia's horse. "Big time."


	4. Abandon All Hope

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: Again, a bit of a long chapter. I thought about breaking this into two, but decided that the chapters would be too short then…no happy medium. And since I haven't updated in a bit due to the holidays, and probably won't get to update very regularly due to an upcoming move, I figured I'd give you a double dose._

_First of all, a very big **WARNING** to readers. This chapter deals with some very horrific scenes, possibly the worst you'll ever see in these stories, and certainly the worst I've written since my Inu-Yasha story _The Killers and the Killed. _The reasoning is the same: in that story and in this chapter, the characters confront evil in its purest and most terrible form. I'm not personally sadistic, but the bad guys in both stories are; I do have a reason for writing this. Moreover, Sheila's torture towards the end of this chapter is based on real events: I based it on the tortures inflicted on American prisoners of war during Vietnam, those incarcerated at the infamous Hoa Lo/Hanoi Hilton prison. The straps were used on most of the POWs, most notably George "Bud" Day and James Stockdale. If anything, Sheila's ordeal is mild compared to theirs. A Google search should suffice if you want more information; safe to say that it is among the worst examples of man's inhumanity to man. Nor is the nudity put there for titillation purposes; both the torturers at Hoa Lo and their brothers in sadism, the Third Reich's Gestapo and Stalinist Russia's NKVD, emphasized stripping prisoners naked to humiliate them and make them feel well and truly alone and hopeless. In any case, you have been warned: it is not for the squeamish._

_In other references to the POW experience, the Morse code coughing was also a trick used by POWs to communicate with each other, and Sheila's remembrance of her Nagelring lessons is loosely based on the Code of Conduct taught to American soldiers._

_And as usual, I've tossed in a few historical and pop culture references, including Marye's Heights (the name of the ridges behind Fredericksburg, where Union soldiers were shot to pieces in December 1862) and "Cell Block V," which should be familiar to fans of a certain guy who wears Guy Fawkes masks. Senefa's remarks to Cavell Malthus about the results of Athena's burning of Front Royal are similar to the reactions of many non-SS (and a few who were) German commanders following the Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944._

_Reviewers' corner: as always, good to hear from you folks. Kat, Senefa isn't getting soft; she's just beginning to question what the Clans are really fighting for. The traitor will have to wait for a few chapters, though. Moisin, only about a third of the 133__rd__ Falcon Fusiliers actually disobeyed Athena's orders…the rest, unfortunately, merely "followed orders."

* * *

_

_Clan Jade Falcon General Headquarters_

_Sharpsburg, Vantaa, Federated Commonwealth_

_18 June 3051_

Senefa Malthus stormed down the hallway towards saKhan Cavell Malthus' office, more infuriated than she had ever been in her life. Clutched in her hands was a sheet of paper, and she had to make a conscious decision not to wad it up in a fit of rage. Techs and even other MechWarriors flattened themselves against the corridor walls, not wanting to be close to that anger.

A single unarmored Elemental stood at the door to Cavell's office, five inches taller than even Senefa's considerable height and twice as broad, all of it muscle. "Elemental Star Commander Vornzel," Senefa snarled, "get out of my way."

Vornzel shook his head. Like most Elementals, he shaved his hair close, but had let some of it grow out as dreadlocks. "The saKhan is in an important meeting with Star Captain Athena Henderson and left orders not to be disturbed."

"He's in a meeting?" Senefa felt her anger getting worse. Undoubtedly, Cavell was talking to Athena about the Front Royal massacre, but that had been done by _her_ unit, Senefa's, and she had every right to be there. Athena was under her command, dammit. "Can I go in?"

"No, Star Colonel. He left specific orders that no one was to be admitted without his permission."

Senefa fixed Vornzel with a jade gaze. "Elemental Star Commander, you will get out of my way this moment. Otherwise I will challenge you, right here and now, to a Circle of Equals, and I will at least put you out of action for a minimum of a month."

Vornzel tensed and unfolded his arms. "I cannot let you pass, Star Colonel. I cede to you choice of weapons."

Senefa stuffed the paper into a pocket of her uniform and pulled out the staff, snapping it into its full length. Vornzel had a reputation for being particularly deadly at hand-to-hand combat, and as a member of Cavell's personal guards, the Jade Falcon Keshik, had to be good. "Augumented," she replied. "I will wait while you find an appropriate weapon."

"No need." Vornzel balled his fists and crouched low, turning slightly to protect his groin. Evidently he had heard what Senefa had done to the Clan Wolf Elemental on Strana Mechty. Senefa took a step back and raised the staff, getting out of arm's reach of Vornzel's powerful arms. It would not be an easy fight, because the corridor's confines were narrow, which limited Senefa's options with the staff and made it that much easier for the Elemental to land one, devastating punch. Still, she would not back down. A crowd was beginning to gather, and the murmurs were getting loud.

Loud enough that the door to Cavell's office abruptly opened. He started at the sight of two of his finest warriors getting ready to fight literally on his doorstep. "Star Colonel Senefa Malthus! Elemental Star Commander Vornzel! What is the meaning of this?"

Both immediately came to attention. "I wished to speak with you immediately," Senefa said tightly. "He would not let me."

"As well he should not! I left specific orders not to be disturbed."

"I understand, ovkhan, which is why I challenged him to a Trial of Grievance for the right to meet with you."

Cavell looked disgusted. "Freebirth…stand down, Vornzel." The Elemental saluted and went to a smart parade rest. "Get in here, Senefa." No one missed the fact that he did not use her rank. With Vornzel, that was less of a problem, since he was unblooded, but given Senefa's Bloodname, it was a calculated insult. Senefa, cheeks burning, walked in.

Senefa took up a position, also at parade rest, in front of Cavell's desk, which had been brought down carefully from Strana Mechty and his personal DropShip. Now it was covered in datapads and paper maps instead of books. Next to her stood Athena Henderson. Senefa glanced at her, but her second-in-command was unusually unreadable; Senefa could not be sure if she was being smug or awaiting sentence.

Cavell collapsed into the chair behind the desk, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then looked at both women. "I was just explaining to Star Captain Athena that I am suspending _all_ Trials of Grievance until further notice, subject to my personal approval. Anyone who disobeys that order will be demoted and sent to hunt bandits. We have enough problems here on Vantaa."

Senefa was shocked, but did not let it show on her face. It made sense to her, though it seemed to violate the Way of the Clans. Campaigns had gone on hiatus to allow a Trial to go through, but that had also been against Clan opponents who would understand; it was unlikely the Inner Sphere would be so gracious. "Do both of you understand?"

"Aff, ovkhan," Senefa barked. To her surprise, Athena hesitated. Cavell noticed it instantly and leaned forward on the desk. "Well, Star Captain?"

"I understand, ovkhan," Athena said, "but Star Captain Kazumi refused a direct order, as did nine other MechWarriors of my unit. I want them punished."

"_Your_ unit?" Senefa snapped. "The 133rd Falcon Fusiliers are _my_ unit, Athena!"

"True," Athena said smoothly, "but you left me in command."

"Had I known you would commit mass murder, I would have left a sibko cadet in charge!"

Athena whirled on Senefa, balling her fists, but both women were silenced as Cavell shot out of his chair and slammed his hands down on his desk. "_That is enough!"_ he shouted. Automatically, both women came to attention. "Stravag, but I have never heard the like! Do I command a Galaxy or a henhouse!"

"Ovkhan, I—" Senefa began.

"Silence!" Cavell thundered. A finger stabbed down on a map, one that showed the position at Marye's Heights. "As you both _might_ know, unless you are too busy acting like old crones, the assault on Marye's Heights failed this morning, because Star Colonel Devlin Hazen, _as usual,_marched his Cluster right into a massed artillery barrage! So now, as the Sentinels laugh at us from the ridges, we must find another way to bypass their position, and I do _not_ have time for this bickering!"

Senefa stood her ground. "Ovkhan, permission to speak."

"Granted," Cavell sighed.

"What happened at Front Royal was worse than a war crime." Athena opened her mouth, but closed it at an angry glance from Cavell. Senefa pulled the paper from her pocket and placed it on Cavell's desk. "Excerpts from the Spherian newsnets. It is all over Vantaa, and within a week, will be all over the Federated Commonwealth as well."

"So?" Athena shrugged. "It is right they should fear us. That is why I did it."

"But they will not," Senefa insisted, wondering how she ever could have so badly misjudged her second-in-command. "Until you razed the town, the Vantaa Militia and the 12th Star Guards in the Massanutten Valley were little more than a rabble, terrified to face us and unable to believe that they could beat us, only slow us down. With your actions, Athena, you have transformed that rabble to vengeful soldiers. Now they will fight us at every bend in the road and every line of trees. They will fight us with sticks if necessary. Nor will they be inclined to surrender, if they believe they will simply be killed." Senefa returned her attention to Cavell. "SaKhan, you are a student of history. You remember the famous saying from ancient Earth, 'Remember the Alamo.'" She contemptously looked at Athena. "Star Captain Athena has just given Vantaa their Alamo, and quite possibly the Federated Commonwealth as well."

"They were the enemy!" Athena shouted. "They were firing at me!"

"Women and children?" Senefa countered. "Star Captain Kazumi has told me you shot them down in the streets. I am saddened that so many of my Cluster chose to follow you. Farmers with shotguns are hardly a threat to BattleMechs, but I can understand killing them." Senefa's gloved finger pointed to the news reports. "These people were unarmed. Their only sin was not being afraid of your BattleMech, Athena. You destroyed Front Royal because you needed to take out your frustration for losing the bridge—nothing more."

"We are conquerors," Athena hissed. "They will bow to Clan Jade Falcon or die."

"That is enough," Cavell repeated, though more calmly this time. "Star Captain, it is obvious that you have lost the confidence of your commander and other members of the Fusiliers. A command must be unified or it is no command at all. Effective immediately, you are relieved of your position with the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers."

Athena's mouth fell open. "My Khan, this is unfair—"

"Choose your next words very carefully," Cavell told her with a voice full of steel. "They may be your last as a Star Captain. I have solamha units who need commanders." Solamha units were made up of malcontent freebirths and aged warriors too old to serve in line units, and were usually sent to hunt down the criminal fringe of Clan society, or as suicide units.

Athena came to attention. "My Khan."

"Since Star Colonel Devlin Hazen seems to be in need of Star Captains with fire, you will be reassigned to the 7th Falcon Regulars at _my_ convienence. Wait outside." Athena cast a murderous glance at Senefa, and Cavell pounced. "Athena, any actions directed at Senefa or Star Captain Kazumi will result in immediate demotion and permanent exile from the Clan. Dismissed." Athena saluted and stalked from the office. Cavell watched her leave, and as the door slid shut behind her, leaned back in her chair. "I would watch yourself with that one, Senefa. She will almost certainly challenge you when the campaign is over."

"She will not. I will challenge her first." Senefa was still angry. Getting Athena thrown out of the Fusiliers was a start, but she had sullied the name of the entire Cluster. No matter what they did for the course of the war, however long it lasted, Senefa knew they would carry the brand of destroying Front Royal. They would be known as butchers, not warriors. "We should simply put her on trial for war crimes and have her shot."

"And the others in your Cluster who also took part? They were only obeying orders."

Senefa scowled. "With respect, ovkhan, that is the same defense that Stefan Amaris' thugs used for committing genocide on Terra. Every warrior must be responsible to their own conscience."

"Even if it conflicts with the needs of the Clan?"

"If the Clan orders such a criminal act, the Clan has no business being one. It is no better than the Not-Named Ones." Senefa referred obliquely to Clan Wolverine, the only Clan ever annihilated by the other Clans. The Wolverines had used weapons of mass destruction in defiance of the other Clans. Now, their name was not even spoken of. "Athena should be stripped of rank and made to live among bandits. I intend to transfer out those members of the Fusiliers who do not show proper remorse for their actions. Let other Clusters deal with them; I shall not, quineg?"

"And what is proper remorse?"

"I will determine that." Senefa had already spoken to many of her MechWarriors where they were stationed in the Valley. Some had defiantly said that Front Royal got what it deserved. Others had shown signs of depression, and admitted to Senefa that they felt distinctly unclean. Those she could salvage; the defiant ones needed to go. She had to restore unity to her Cluster immediately before it fell apart. Luckily, in Star Captain Kazumi and Star Commander Lina she had a good, solid core to rebuild around.

Cavell picked up the news reports, sighed again, and tossed them into a trash can. "Whatever you do, it must wait until the end of the campaign."

"My Khan, my unit is divided and demoralized. I would rather fight at half strength without the troublemakers than at full strength with them."

"Very well. I want personal approval of your transfers, however."

Senefa was shocked. Khans—good ones, in any case—did not meddle with simple personnel transfers. It went against the dictums of the Kerenskys themselves, who insisted that the Clans should have centralized command, but decentralized execution to preserve flexibility in combat. Khans were not to micromanage campaigns or units. "I do not understand."

Cavell faced her squarely. "Senefa, as of late, I have indulged your obsession with Sheila Arla-Vlata. Now that she is a bondswoman, I consider that matter closed. You need to return your energies to the Clan, not a personal vendetta."

Senefa nodded emphatically. "Aff, ovkhan; I agree completely and I will."

"And what of your promise to her about torture? And your offer to adopt her into the Clan?"

Senefa blinked. "She is a honorable warrior. She could make a valuable addition to the Jade Falcons."

"Perhaps, but that is not your decision to make." Cavell folded his arms across his chest. "Star Colonel, it has recently come to my attention that Sheila was once a member of a war plans group among the Federated Commonwealth. She may have information that is useful to us. Since she is not likely to talk, it may be necessary to…extract the information from her."

"You mean torture," Senefa snapped.

Cavell nodded. "Aff."

"I gave my word."

"It was not your word to give." Cavell leaned forward. "Senefa, of all my Cluster commanders, you are the one I respect the most. I have given you a great amount of latitude. As a result, I now have a Cluster on the verge of coming apart while its commander indulges in a personal war. Sheila is a bondswoman of the Clan, not of Senefa Malthus, quiaff?"

"Aff." Senefa could not keep the anger from her face.

"You are to return to your Cluster, but first I want you to go to Marye's Heights. Devlin has been giving me nothing but excuses. I myself do not have the time to go down and see the ground for myself, so I am sending you. Report back here in 24 hours, and then you will go immediately to your Cluster. You will not see Sheila again, quiaff? You have taken your pound of flesh from her."

"Aff." She paused. "And what about Star Captain Athena Henderson?"

"What about her? She is no concern of yours."

"What she did was wrong, my Khan."

Cavell looked at his maps. "I disagree with your assessment. I dislike the method in which it was done, but Front Royal served as an example. We have already seen a downturn in partisan attacks in the past 24 hours. Again, her methods were brutal and not to be repeated, but I will not prosecute her for it."

"She killed unarmed civilians—"

"I am full aware of what she did, Senefa, but Athena is right in one respect—it is time that these Spheroids learn that we are conquerors, not liberators. They are part of the Jade Falcons now, and the sooner they come to realize it, the better it will be for all involved." He tapped in a few commands on a datapad. "Again, it is none of your concern any longer, Senefa. Athena is no longer part of your command. Nor will I prosecute Star Captain Kazumi, though he did disobey a direct order. He is a seasoned warrior and I will not lose such a man over a trifle such as this."

_Trifle?_ Senefa wanted to shout, _there are four hundred people who are dead!_ But she remained silent, and hated herself for it.

"Will there be anything else?" Cavell asked.

"No, my Khan."

"You are angry, Senefa, quiaff?"

"Neg," Senefa replied, struggling to get the words out. "I have not begun to get angry. Am I dismissed?"

"Aff," Cavell replied, clipping the word, making it sound more like a grunt. Senefa wheeled on one boot and walked to the door. "Star Colonel. I did not see a salute."

Senefa snapped to attention so hard the leather in her boots made a cracking sound. Her salute was precise and worthy of a falconer. It was also full of irony that Cavell did not miss. He returned it nonetheless. "Send in Star Captain Athena. I am not finished with her yet." Senefa merely nodded and left. A moment later, Athena Henderson, her face enflamed, walked in and crashed to attention with much the same faux-respect Senefa had. Cavell only glanced at her, then went back to his typing, determined to make the Star Captain sweat a little.

Inside, he was in turmoil. His campaign, which had seemed on the verge of becoming a spectacular victory, was now teetering again on the edge of disaster. Devlin Hazen's idiot frontal assault was bad enough; the man simply could not use the bathroom without a detailed plan, and would likely be frozen to the seat in indecision if there was no toilet paper. Worse, much worse as far as Cavell was concerned, his star pupil, Senefa, seemed to be suffering from temporary insanity. He expected her to be harsh with the woman who had humbled her, but now Senefa almost seemed to be pampering her nemesis. _Extending an offer of abtakha? We are not the Wolves,_ Cavell thought derisively. Senefa seemed to think that the Jade Falcons existed for her to indulge her obsession with the Inner Sphere warrior, and that the war should be conducted to her whims. Her reaction to the Front Royal incident was far out of proportion. Still, Cavell thought to himself, Senefa was yet young. She would return to form soon enough, and the quickest way was to get her back to what she was bred to do, fighting.

In any case, however, she would need an oblique lesson as to who was still in charge on Vantaa. He remembered that, in his youth, a commander had done much the same to him. Cavell had fallen madly and in unClan like love with a freebirth tech, to the point that merely coupling with her was not enough; he had to have her around all the time. Since it had affected his work, Cavell's Cluster commander had the tech transferred far away. He had been angry and heartbroken, and even challenged his Star Colonel to a Trial of Grievance that he lost, but looking back on it, his superior had been entirely correct. While he had no illusions that there was anything remotely resembling love or even lust between Senefa and Sheila—such things were left to lurid stories written by the bandit caste—there was an unhealthy obsession there, and Senefa would benefit from a more concrete reminder that the vendetta was over for good.

Finally, he looked up at Star Captain Athena, who was by now looking extremely uncomfortable. "Star Captain, I will not hear of any reprisals on your part against any member of the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers. If you wish to challenge Star Colonel Senefa Malthus once the campaign is over, that is your affair, but it will wait until then." She nodded quickly, angrily, and Cavell decided he would not miss Athena Henderson when Senefa killed her in a Circle of Equals. Still, he needed her now. "While I do not share the Star Colonel's views on the morality of what happened at Front Royal, you understand that your actions have divided the 133rd. That is why you are being transferred, quiaff?"

"Aff," Athena answered tightly.

"As punishment for your temerity and insubordination, you will report to Star Colonel Sedale Malthus when I dismiss you. You are being put in charge of interrogating Bondswoman Sheila, formerly Sheila Arla-Vlata of the Snowbirds SMCAT. I have reason to believe that Sheila was once part of the Junior Officers' Strategy Group." He handed her a datapad. "The pertinent information is in here. If she knows anything about future strategy by the Federated Commonwealth, I wish to know about it."

Athena looked at the datapad with obvious distaste. Interrogation was something left to medtechs, not MechWarriors. It was certainly punishment. "What methods do I use?"

"Consult with the medtechs. They have their ways." Cavell stared at her, hard. "You have 24 hours, Star Captain. You will not kill Bondswoman Sheila. If she does not know, she does not know. After that, you will be transferred to the 7th Falcon Regulars, and we will hear no more of this. Am I understood?"

"Aff, ovkhan. Completely."

"I am pleased to hear it," Cavell said sarcastically. "Dismissed." He returned Athena's salute and did not bother to watch her leave. He had little doubt that Athena would take out her anger on Sheila, but hopefully that would relieve that problem as well. Sheila Arla-Vlata was also full of pride and rage, and she too could benefit from a reminder that she was part of the Jade Falcons. Using Athena as his instrument would also further remind Senefa who was in charge. Cavell knew Senefa would be furious, but that would pass, and in the meantime her fury would be focused on the enemy. Cavell allowed himself a small smile and went back to the serious work of taking Vantaa. Idly, he wondered how his own nemesis, Calla Bighorn-Vlata, was taking the loss of his daughter. Well, if Cavell had his way, the father would join her soon enough. He picked up the telephone to let Sedale know Athena was on her way.

* * *

Athena Henderson walked into the office of Sedale Malthus, the operational commander of the Jade Falcon Keshik. Sedale's job was to make sure everything ran smoothly in the headquarters area. "Star Captain Athena Henderson reporting as ordered, Star Colonel."

Sedale looked up at her with supreme disinterest. "Mm." He pointed to an older man wearing medtech coveralls trying to be unobtrusive in the corner. "That is Medtech Paul. Take him with you. You are not to kill or inflict permanent damage on the prisoner. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly, Star Colonel."

"Good. Interrogation is not something to enjoy, and certainly not for warriors. You are being punished, Star Captain Athena. Do not forget that."

"Aff, Star Colonel. May I request something?"

Sedale looked up as if Athena had turned into a donkey and begun braying. "What?"

"Is Elemental Point Commander Xedas still part of the Keshik?"

"Aff. Why?"

"Bondswoman Sheila is quite an accomplished fighter. Even deprived of weapons, she was able to beat Star Colonel Senefa Malthus. She is capable of damaging myself and certainly Medtech Paul. I know Xedas—we are sibkin. I would like his assistance."

Sedale paused, then picked up a phone. "Order Elemental Xedas to report to Star Captain Athena Henderson at Cell Block V immediately," he told the person on the other end, then hung up. "Sensible, Star Captain. I should have thought of that. You are dismissed. Report back to me when you are finished."

Athena saluted and left, the medtech in her wake. She and Xedas had been captured together from Hell's Horses, and while they had never been more than friends, they had both tested out into their new Clan at the same time, though his career had not been as meteoric as hers. Athena knew Xedas would obey any order she gave; he was no weak sister like Kazumi or Senefa Malthus. She suspected that she was being used by her Khan, but did not care. If she could not hurt Senefa, she would hurt her old enemy and prove who was the better Jade Falcon.

As they reached the POW camp—what had been the Sharpsburg city jail and now divided by the Jade Falcons into five blocks, with the fifth being held for the most important prisoners—Athena spoke at last to the medtech. "Medtech Paul. How do you usually conduct these interrogations?"

Paul held up a thick briefcase. "We usually inject the subject with drugs. After awhile, the prisoner will feel compelled to answer questions, because their judgement will be swamped by the effect of the drugs. It is a feeling similar to being extremely intoxicated. However, should the subject resist, then I use increased dosage and hallucinogens. The prisoner will feel extreme pain and disorientation. We do not like to use the increased dosages if possible, as they can render the prisoner unable to speak, and the withdrawal symptoms are terrible." He made the process sound clinical. Athena knew better. Like all Clan warriors, she was shown tapes of prisoners under the effect of the drugs, to make them familiar with methods of interrogation; the Clans used drugs on captured Clan warriors as well. The serums used by interrogators seemed to drive the subjects temporarily insane. Most cracked quickly, but some strong-willed individuals were known to hold out for days, to the point of permanent madness. Sheila, in her weakened state, might also come apart quickly, but Athena thought that she might not—anyone who could survive a Circle of Equals with Senefa Malthus had to be rather tough. In any case, chemical pain was not satisfying enough. Sheila might believe herself attacked by nightmares under the influence, but Athena wanted her to know exactly who was inflicting pain on her.

"Medtech Paul, I will not use your drugs. I have other methods in mind," she told him. "All you will do is make sure that I am not killing the bondswoman—and I have a rather liberal interpretation of 'permanent damage,' quiaff?" The look on her face told Paul that Athena would happily inflict permanent damage on his own body if he disagreed, so he nodded emphatically. He had long ago grown immune to pain inflicted on prisoners; that was part of his job, and if it was something he personally disliked, he had his orders.

Xedas was waiting at Sheila's cell. He nodded to Athena. "Star Captain, good to see you again."

"The sentiment is shared, Xedas. I have to interrogate a prisoner, and I will need your help. She is something of a fighter."

Xedas merely nodded. "Good. I have been bored."

Athena opened the cell. Inside, Sheila Arla-Vlata was staring at the ceiling. Her cell was bare concrete and consisted of a bed chained to the wall, a small desk used for eating, a mattress, a pillow, and a toilet screened off from the rest of the cell by a cardboard partition. It was warm enough, but still smelled. "Bondswoman Sheila," Athena intoned.

* * *

Sheila got up from the bed. She was actually glad to see someone. Following her release from the hospital, she had been brought to the cell, given a small dinner, and left to her own devices. There was a small window, at head height and barred, but all it showed was a dingy courtyard. The Clanfolk who had brought her to her cell had not been rough, but neither had they been gentle; their attitude was one of bored indifference. To the best of her knowledge, she was alone in the cell block. Her hospital gown had been exchanged for simple coveralls; the hated bondcord was still around her wrist and chafed terribly. For the last six hours, Sheila had spent her time pacing the floor; her captors had not bound her and in fact had seemed to forget about her. She had tried to sleep, knowing she had to keep up her strength, but there was no warm body of her husband next to her. Even prayer had brought no comfort; Sheila knew it would take a miracle to get her out of the prison before she was shipped off of Vantaa to destinations unknown, and, as the old saying went, she was a little overdrawn at the Bank of Miracles. Sheila felt that God owed her nothing, but she prayed anyway, wishing she had her mother's bluster—when Arla Bighorn-Vlata prayed, it was like she was ordering God to help--or Maysa Bari's quiet faith. Now, with these three Clanfolk, there was something to do, and if nothing else, an enemy God could help her fight.

"I am she," Sheila answered simply.

"You will come with us."

"Very well." Sheila put on a pair of slippers left for her and followed Athena out into the corridor. There was no point in resisting; the Elemental would make sure of that. Sheila glanced at the doors of the cell block as she was led down the hallway, trying to memorize a way out in case escape should offer itself. They left the cell block itself and entered another part of the complex, and Sheila saw the first prisoners besides herself since she had been captured. They also wore coveralls and bondcords, and none met her eyes; none were also close enough to talk to. "Do not speak," the Elemental warned, just as Sheila had considered shouting out her name. Just before she was led down another corridor, however, a man sweeping the floor caught her glance. He gave the briefest of nods, and Sheila wanted to cheer out loud. She had been noticed. As they walked further away, she heard the man began to cough. The coughs seemed strangely rhythmic, and Sheila suddenly noticed that he was coughing in Morse code. Hers was very rusty, but before they were out of earshot, she recognized the codes for her first name. _My God,_ she thought, _I've read about this! The POWs here already have some sort of underground! He's communicating to someone that he's noticed me and who I am!_ Sheila had heard stories of Davion prisoners taken in the Fourth Succession War by House Kurita, who used such a code to get out a list of prisoners and their location to MIIO agents, who promptly sent in the elite Black Fox teams to break the prisoners out. Sheila's hopes soared. She had not been forgotten.

When she was pushed into a room that was obviously soundproofed, however, her hopes took a downward turn. She had dreaded being interrogated again, and knew that the questions she had been asked while she was hopped up on painkillers had been softball ones. The room was bare except for two chairs and a gurney. From the appearance of the sheets and stains on the walls, the Clans were not into merely asking polite questions. Sheila had heard the stories as well from liberated officers on Planting and Twycross, and knew that, if she wanted a battle, she had one on her hands now.

She steeled herself, trying to remember the brief lessons at the Nagelring on the subject. When she had asked one of her professors who had briefly been captured by Kurita during the War of 3039 what she should do if captured, he had crisply and succinctly replied, "Don't get captured." Other professors had been slightly more helpful. _If you are captured, _they had said, _give your parole. If your captors obey the Ares Conventions, you will not be tortured. If you are, however, hold out as long as you feel that you can. Know, however, that holding out indefinitely is nearly impossible; everyone has a breaking point. Give your captors as little as possible; lie at all times. But recognize that your tactical knowledge is out of date within 48 hours, and do not feel dishonored if you do break and talk. Merely do the best you can and encourage others to do the same. If you are the senior officer, take command. Never quit thinking of ways to resist your captors and escape. Always remember that you are an officer of the Federated Commonwealth._ Well, she was a mercenary, but she would be damned if she wouldn't talk without making the Clanners work for it.

The man who was obviously a medtech stood off to one side. His black bag looked ominous, but worse was the Elemental, who pulled the straps from the gurney. She had heard the Elemental and the woman in the uniform of a MechWarrior talking in low tones in the corridor, and though she had not been able to hear what they had said, it was nothing good for her, she was sure. Sheila looked at the blonde woman, who returned her gaze with nothing less than pure loathing. Sheila noticed the patch on her shoulder, showing a banshee against a Clan Jade Falcon crest: it was that of the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers, Senefa Malthus' unit. _So much for word of honor,_ Sheila sighed inwardly. _Knew I couldn't trust that bitch._

"You," the woman said. "Strip off that coverall."

Sheila shook her head. "Who are you?"

To her surprise, the woman answered instantly. "Star Captain Athena Henderson."

"Star Captain, I am Lieutenant Commander Sheila Arla-Vlata of the Sentinels RCAT. My serial number is 32-025-22026. As an officer under the employ of the Federated Commonwealth, under the terms of the Ares Conventions, I am not to be humiliated or tortured."

Athena laughed. "I do not care for such Spheroid conventions."

"They were signed long before the Clans came into existence. Your founder, Alexsandr Kerensky, held to them rigidly."

Athena hesitated, obviously a little taken aback by Sheila's knowledge of the Clans' origins. Then she shrugged. "Kerensky was a Wolf. I am Jade Falcon." She took a step forward. "You are nothing, Sheila. You are a bondswoman to be done with as I please. Now strip."

Sheila was briefly reminded of Marion Rhialla, but Marion had done what she had on Outreach to prove a point. Athena just looked like she wanted to get a little sadistic enjoyment out of the deal. Since the Elemental looked quite ready to strip her by force, Sheila did as she was told and stood in her underwear. "Now what?"

"Those as well." Athena mentioned at the underwear.

"I will not be humiliated like this. I am an officer—"

Athena reached forward and slapped Sheila across the face. Sheila instantly balled her fists and began to swing back, but the Elemental grabbed her. She turned and delivered a shot to the stomach, but it felt like hitting an iron plate. He easily outmaneuvered an attempt to kick him in the crotch, then, with a speed she didn't anticipate from such a big man, struck downward. Sheila's world instantly exploded into stars and she went down. Before she could react, the Elemental punched her again, this time across the nose. Blood flew across the room, and it was all Sheila could do to remain conscious. She gave no further resistance as the Elemental tore away her bra and panties. She curled into a fetal position and looked up at Athena. "You sick bitch," Sheila spat, but inside fear grabbed hold. Interrogation she expected, even abuse, but rape was something she had never considered.

Athena merely smiled at her. "Not so high and mighty now." She knelt. "We can do this quite easily, bondswoman." She pulled the datapad off her belt. "Were you ever a member of the Junior Officers Strategy Group?"

Sheila was too shocked to come up with a plausible denial. Instead she blurted, "How do you know about that?"

Athena snorted. "You think we are stupid barbarians? We have our ways. So—were you?"

There was no point in denying it now. "Yes," Sheila answered.

"What was its purpose?"

"Finding ways to kill Clanners."

Athena clucked her tongue in a synthetic show of sympathy. "You will have to do better than that."

"Seriously. That was its purpose. We wanted to compare notes on how to blow up your 'Mechs and fuck up your MechWarriors." Sheila knew the effect of profanity on Clanfolk; Athena, by the look on her face, was no different.

"That was all?"

"Pretty much," Sheila lied. "There's really not much to tell."

"I doubt that. You are lying." Over Sheila's protests, Athena motioned to the Elemental. He grabbed Sheila from behind once more, this time by the wrists. She squirmed and struggled, kicking the Elemental, but the man didn't even seem to notice. Athena stunned Sheila for a moment by kicking her in the face, enough for Xedas to grab her ankles and bind them with the straps. Having already trapped her wrists in one beefy hand, he bound those as well, and held her up, forcing Sheila to kneel with her arms above her head, trapping her legs between his. Sheila turned her head to face the Elemental and summoned up her courage. "If you're going to rape me, you've got no honor as a warrior."

Xedas looked sick. "I do not defile myself with freebirths." He looked to Athena.

"Rape you?" Athena shook her head. "You should be so lucky. No, Sheila…when we're done, you may wish we had. Unless you answer my questions very quickly. What was the purpose of the JOSG?"

"I just told you!" She winced as the Elemental applied pressure.

"There was no…planning for future offensives?"

"Just ideas."

"What kind of ideas?"

"I don't know!" Sheila shot back. "I was just a lance commander then. They didn't include me in those discussions, okay?"

Athena made a great show of sighing, and nodded to Xedas once more. He planted a hand in the small of Sheila's back and grabbed hold of her ponytail, pushing with the first and pulling her back with the second. Sheila felt as if she was being bent in half. She gritted her teeth, not wanting to scream. "They…didn't…include…me," she struggled out. When the pressure didn't relent, Sheila gasped, "There was some talk about the assault on Twycross!"

"And Planting?"

"Probably!" Sheila's back felt like one giant lance of fiery pain.

"And others?"

"Not that I know of!"

Athena signaled Xedas to let off the pressure. He did so, and Sheila drew in great shuddering gulps of air. "Very good, bondswoman. Now…let's move on to how you know so much about us."

Sheila looked down and wanted to cry. The JOSG was less of a problem; it had pretty much become defunct after Planting and the meeting on Outreach. Admitting her knowledge of the Clans was something else entirely: she would have to admit it had been Jaime Wolf, which would lead to other questions, eventually leading to the discussions she had been a part of on Outreach. She tried not to look at the doctor and his black bag. If they shot enough crap into her, she might even give up what Victor had told her at the dinner—that he and Kai Allard were slated to be assigned to Alyina. The Clans would not pass up another opportunity to snap up the heir to two of their three most implacable enemies.

"Well?" Athena's words came at the same time as Xedas grinding his legs into her ankles. This time Sheila did cry out.

"Please stop hurting me," she said. It was not quite an act.

"Talk and we will."

"I've been fighting you for two years almost," Sheila said. "You're bound to pick up a few things."

Athena reached down and squeezed Sheila's abused nose almost playfully. "You are lying again."

"Okay, okay." Sheila wrenched herself away from Athena. "Senefa Malthus told me. We had quite the discussion while I was in the hospital." _Maybe they can stick that lying whore in here next to me,_ Sheila thought.

The Clan MechWarrior looked genuinely intrigued. "That is interesting indeed. Our very own Senefa Malthus, turning traitor, talking too much." Athena once more shook her head. "I hate that stravag bitch, but I have trouble believing that the Vulcan talks too much. No, there is something more." She consulted the datapad again. "Something about Outreach?"

Sheila felt the tears on her face. "I haven't been to Outreach for years."

"Oh? No high level meetings with Jaime Wolf, that freebirth bastard of a traitor?"

_How much do they know?_ Sheila wondered. _Who's been talking to the Clans?_ "I. Wasn't. There," Sheila said, emphasizing each word. She saw the light in Athena's eyes change and braced herself as best she could, knowing that Athena really didn't care if Sheila talked. She was there to hurt, and hurt as long and horribly as possible. Sheila bowed her head as Athena stood and shrugged at Xedas.

Sheila expected to be struck and beaten, but the Elemental did not do that. Instead, he pulled back Sheila's arms even more. Using more of the straps from the gurney, he began systematically binding Sheila's arms together, until they were pressed together to the elbows. Blinding pain shot up from her arms, but despite the pleas forcing themselves from her throat, Xedas did not stop. He pulled again and tightened another strap. Sheila screamed as she felt her shoulders being pulled out of their joints and the muscles in her chest feeling as if they were being torn in half. Her screams died to sobs as Xedas finished his work. Sheila's arms were now encased in the straps to nearly her shoulders, unnaturally held out straight behind her. Xedas forced her into a sitting position and forced her head between her ankles, then used the last strap to attach her neck to her ankles. If Sheila jerked upwards too hard, it would snap her spine. He stepped back and again looked to Athena. Sheila, in a red haze of pure agony, to the point that she prayed for unconsciousness, noticed that he looked at her as if she was a piece of meat, not a human being. Athena bent down so that she was level with Sheila's face. "It hurts, does it not?" Sheila could only give the barest of nods, and even that hurt terribly. "Good. It was because of you that I have been humiliated and demoted by your 'friend' Senefa. I cannot hurt her. I can certainly hurt you…and I want to go on hurting you." Athena rapped her on the back of the head. "I would leave you there for awhile, but time is short." She motioned at the medtech. "Now we can use your drugs, Paul."

Paul had turned pale. "I-If we use the drugs now, she'll die. You've already done enough to cripple her."

"Your speech, Medtech. Do not sound so barbaric." Athena's smile faded. "Now do as I ask, or Xedas will do the same to you. No one cares what happens to freebirths, bondswomen or not."

Paul shakily nodded, seeing the look on Xedas' face. The Elemental felt nothing for Sheila, but it was obvious he might relish going after a medtech. He pulled out a syringe and walked forward. "I am sorry," he whispered to Sheila. He readied the first of the batch of interrogation drugs; at least it would dull the pain, at first.


	5. A Matter of Honor

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: This chapter's a little shorter than the last few. That's because there's a big battle coming up, and that would just be too much. I'm going to try and write that scene before I have to start packing up for my move (ergh), but in case you don't hear from me for awhile, that's why. It'll be a bit before I get the internet back up at my new place. In any case, this chapter isn't quite as intense as the last one, but it deals with the aftermath of that, so there is some icky stuff._

_Because I get a kick out of making obscure references, one of the characters in this chapter is a tribute to a favorite author of mine and all around nice guy, Mark Berent. It was from his series of books about Vietnam that I got the idea for this story arc. The names for the POW camps in this chapter—Camp Unity and Heartbreak Hotel—were terms that the inmates used for the Hanoi Hilton._

_I'm glad from the reviews that no one thought the torture scene was too rough. Sadly, it is indeed based on incidents that really happened. And yes, Moisin, Athena isn't quite all there; even Senefa had questioned that, in the last story arc, that Athena's fanaticism might get the better of her. Rouge and Knives, don't spare words; tell me how you really feel! Don't worry, though…karma always catches up in the end. _

_Kat, I wanted to have a Clan character that wasn't a cookie cutter "bad guy" (or in Senefa's case, bad girl). Stackpole touches on the conscience of Clanfolk in his books, but I always found it somewhat bizarre that the only person who ever seemed to question the Clans' actions—even the Warden Wolves—wasn't a Clanner at all, but Phelan Kell. (In _More Tales of the Black Widow, _Stackpole had some fluff text where Ranna realizes that she's accidentally gunned down civilians and nearly throws up, and another member of the 13__th__ Wolf Guards asking themselves who was more honorable—the Clans or the Rasalhagians who fought them, knowing they would lose. So there is that.) In many ways, the Clans resemble the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich. How does a German soldier reconcile what he percieves is right (fighting for his country) with what he sees his country doing (the Holocaust)? It's a huge moral gray area._

_Anyway, on with the story.

* * *

_

_Cacotin Mountain, 10 kilometers south of Sharpsburg_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_19 June 3051_

Max shivered as he chewed on a piece of bread. Back on his homeworld of Shensi, and his adopted home of Grunwald, June meant the beginnings of summer. Here on Vantaa, the air held the hint of snow. It was not terribly cold, but it was wet, and the chill was soaking through even the cold weather uniform.

"Major?" He looked up into the pleasant face of Captain Mikkansia Jackson. "Our contacts are here."

Max stood up and motioned to Tooriu, who looked up from his bowl of soup and hurried over. The three of them walked to a small clearing in the thick woods they hid in. Around them was huddled the other 24 members of their small party: 21 of the elite Sentinels Light Infantry, led by Jackson, and the three other MechWarriors of the Snowbirds who had volunteered to go in on foot, besides Max and Tooriu—Felisanna, her mohawk shaved off down to a pink crewcut; Frederick Matria, who looked rather comfortable with the hard-bitten infantry; and Brefudd Dari, who was rapidly becoming the Snowbirds' specialist at night fighting. Max reflected that of the five, he was the odd man out—Matria had his background in the Planting resistance, Dari his superb night-sight; Tooriu's bulk was always helpful, and Felisanna surprised everyone by being the best equestrienne in the group, a product of her mother's failed attempts at giving her rebellious daughter some culture by sponsoring horse-riding lessons. Max was only there because Sheila was his wife, and he loved her. Militarily, it made no sense.

He shook off those thoughts. No one in the Snowbirds or the SLI had disputed his presence. "I didn't hear the signal," he told Mikkansia.

"Our 'guests' didn't give it, though their passwords are correct," Mikkansia said with what Max detected was embarassment. Because of their close proximity to the Clan headquarters, open fires were forbidden, even though it was light and the woods were dense, and sentries were posted in the treetops. The SLI were masters at their craft: Calla's wife and Sheila's mother Arla had modeled them after Wolf's Dragoons' elite Seventh Kommando. For someone to simply slip into the camp meant that either the SLI had a bad gap in their defenses, or their contacts were very good. Max was somewhat surprised then to find that their contacts consisted of a small man in his mid-twenties, and a large man whose age could be anywhere from his early thirties to his late fifties. They squatted in the clearing, surrounded by five rough-looking men in forest-patterned fatigues and Lieutenant Kombara Trelane, Jackson's second-in-command. Max knelt down as Jackson made the introductions. "Captain Mikkansia Jackson, Sentinels Light Infantry. This is our MechWarrior liasion, Major Max Canis-Vlata."

"Captain John Keynes, Vantaa Rangers," the small man replied with a smile. "These are my men, and this is…" He hesitated at the large man, who nonetheless put out a beefy hand. "Wolf," the man rumbled. "Just call me Wolf." Max took the hand and winced as his own was crushed by a firm grip. Wolf looked like a Neanderthal, the last person in the Inner Sphere Max would ever want to mess with.

"Wolf comes to us from New Avalon," Keynes said. Jackson's eyebrows rose considerably, and Max knew why. It meant that this Wolf was almost certainly from MIIO, the Davion intelligence service. "An honor," she said with reverence.

"Mm," Wolf grunted. "Before we get down to brass tacks, I'd like to hear the plan you've got going here. I understand the need for opsec, but I need to know what's going to happen."

"Of course," Jackson replied, unconsciously ceding command of the operation to Wolf. She bent down, and in the half-frozen mud, made a hasty map of the prisoner compound. "We know the Clans have taken over the old Sharpsburg city jail for their POW camp. It's rather large, and has a capacity of 430 prisoners, so we believe that is where they are keeping the officers and noncoms. The other enlisted men are being held in a hasty camp near the DropPort. We'll get to that in a moment; our main target is the Sharpsburg prison." Jackson pointed at the various parts of her map. "It's shaped in a hexagonal pattern, with the prison's outer buildings forming part of the wall. Those are administrative offices and such. The long building in the middle that almost bisects the prison is the hospital. The two large buildings, here and here, are the cells—two men each." She reached out and sketched a rough square. "The Jade Falcons have set up their headquarters next door, in the old city hall." She looked up. "Captain Keynes, I assume you have better knowledge of the facility than I do in its present condition."

Keynes shrugged. "Somewhat. We have the city fairly well infiltrated." He smiled wryly. "When you Sentinels fought the Clanners, you made a right mess of things. Pretty much the entire eastern sector of the city is in ruins. The Falcons have cleared the main streets of rubble, but the side streets are impassable. They've also cleared the area around the prison and city hall, and have constant roving patrols of Toads." He made an impression in the mud next to the city hall. "There's a park right here; used to be a fountain there. Pretty too…the Falcons demolished it and have got camo netting stretched over the whole thing. It's where they park something they call the Jade Falcon Keshik."

"That would be Khan Cavell Malthus' personal guard," Max put in.

"Are you sure? That's not good," Keynes said with more than a little apphrension.

"We're actually counting on it," Max told him. "Please, continue."

"That's pretty much it, actually. The Clanners don't let anyone within 500 meters of the area without a pass, and they give out damn few of those. The rest of the city they pretty much leave alone. Right now, the locals are too busy trying to rebuild to really do anything, plus with about a hundred Toads running around and maybe a couple of lances of 'Mechs, they're not going to try. Not after what we heard happened to Front Royal. You guys hear about that?"

"We saw it," Max said tightly. "I guess there wouldn't be any opposition anyway."

"The locals turn a blind eye to us and give us food and shelter," Keynes said. "That's more than enough. I guess some of the local punks lob rocks and crap at the Clanners every now and then, and one nut even managed to get in and spraypaint 'Clans Suck Dick' on the walls of City Hall." They shared a chuckle over that one, except for Wolf. "That's pretty much ended too. Everyone's just too scared now." He motioned at Wolf. "You know more about the prison itself, sir."

Wolf looked squarely at Max. "You're related to Lieutenant Commander Sheila Arla-Vlata, right?"

"She's my wife." There was no point in lying about it.

"So this whole operation is about her?"

"Not just about her," Mikkansia said, quickly rallying to Max's side. "We want to break out as many prisoners as possible, and cause as much trouble as we can. The Falcons are preparing another attack at Marye's Heights, and hopefully we can disrupt that as well."

"But she is the main objective," Wolf persisted.

"Yes," Max said. "She's not just my wife. She knows a lot about the war effort. We have to get her out of there before they either ship her offplanet or force her to talk."

"And she's our commander," Tooriu spoke up. "We don't leave people behind."

"But we won't leave the others either," Mikkansia reassured them.

"That's fine," Wolf told them. "Quite understandable if she _was_ the only objective. I wouldn't leave my wife in the hands of those butchers." He returned his attention to the map and pointed to one of the outlying buildings, on the east side of the wall, making an X. "Commander Arla-Vlata is in this cell here, V8. Your information is slightly incorrect, Captain. Only the buildings on the west and south are admin. The east wall is Cell Block V, where they would normally keep the hard cases. Solitary confinement. Right now, Arla-Vlata is the only occupant of the block, despite overcrowding in the other cell blocks—there are actually about 600 in the facility, with another 1500 at the DropPort camp. The guys at that one call it Camp Unity, so we'll do the same."

"What do they call the jail?" Tooriu asked.

Wolf's mouth quirked into something almost a smile. "They named it after an old Terra rock tune—Heartbreak Hotel."

"How do you know all this?" Max wondered.

"Opsec, Major—I can't tell you. The most I can say is that we have people on the inside. The senior officer is a Major Richardson, of the Vantaa Militia, and he has taken command, as he should, with other officers of the camp. Matter of fact, there is a Lance Commander Jordy Kumano there too, one of your people."

Max nodded. "I know Jordy." Kumano was one of the old heads, around since the Fourth Succession War, and a close friend of Geena Carabinera and Marion Rhialla. "We had him down as missing; good to know he's still alive. Do they know about Sheila?"

"They do. They have ways of communicating that the Clans haven't caught onto yet. The Clanners prevent the doctors and nurses at the jail infirmary from talking to the prisoners, but they did manage to get word to Major Richardson that Arla-Vlata was brought in from the main hospital, where she was treated for minor wounds following her capture. Unfortunately, Arla-Vlata has been isolated since she was brought there, but one of the prisoners learned which cell she was in from a camp cook, and they spotted her yesterday, twice."

Max brightened. He had known, somehow, that Sheila was still alive, but this was wonderful news. They had thought it would take precious time to find Sheila, but now they knew exactly where she was. "Is she okay?"

Wolf hesitated. "Major, before I answer that, let me ask you a question. If it were up to me, you would not be on this mission. You're too emotionally involved. However, since you _are_ here, tell me—can you put the mission before her? Are you going to be able to handle it?"

"Yes," Max told him, though his insides turned to ice.

"All right." Wolf sighed. "They took her to what the prisoners call the Romper Room. It's where they take officers to be interrogated."

"Oh, Jesus." Max sat down in the mud.

"This is what I mean," Wolf said, shaking his head.

"Just a moment," Keynes interrupted before Wolf could continue. "My sources said that their treatment was generally good. The prisoners are being used for manual labor and the food isn't the best, but other than that, the Clanners leave them alone."

"Yes," Wolf admitted, "that's generally true, especially at Camp Unity. Even Richardson reported that conditions in Heartbreak Hotel are not terrible—much better than they would get from a Kurita or a Liao camp, certainly. The officers are given the run of the prison, aside from the hospital and Cell Block V, as are the noncoms. The Clanners have been known to beat them on occasion. That's not particularly surprising, as the garrison troops are getting frustrated and tend to take it out on the nearest available target; it's not new, even among our troops. However, the Falcons are also selecting officers for chemical torture. Apparently, however…" Wolf glanced at Max "…Arla-Vlata got more than that. Officers who get shot up with truth serum usually are carried back in stretchers to the camp hospital. It was reported that she was simply being carried over the shoulder of an Elemental like she was a sack of flour. Nor was she brought to the hospital."

Tooriu put a hand on Max's shoulder. "Sheila always was a hard case."

"It may be something else. She was seen in the company of a high-ranking Clan MechWarrior. That's never been seen before; the Falcon MechWarriors never even come into the prison, let alone participate in interrogations. For that matter, neither do Elementals. Rumor has it that someone high up in the Jade Falcons there at Sharpsburg has it in personally for Arla-Vlata."

"Malthus," Max snarled. "Senefa Malthus."

"I don't know any names." Wolf settled back on his haunches. "Now then—the plan."

Jackson nodded. "Yes, the plan." She closed her eyes, said a brief prayer for her comrade, and began.

* * *

_Sharpsburg City Jail (Heartbreak Hotel)_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_19 June 3051_

"It is going to rain," Star Captain Kezumi looked at the graying sky. "That will make things harder." Senefa Malthus nodded absently. "If we are to move quickly to flank the Sentinel positions on Marye's Heights, it will slow us somewhat. Perhaps we should refit some of our OmniMechs with jump packs." Another absent nod. "Star Colonel, are you listening to me?"

Senefa looked up. "Aff, Star Captain."

"You are troubled, quiaff?" Kezumi sighed. "I am as well. Still, we must do our duty. Your speech helped."

Senefa echoed his sigh. She had conferred with Devlin Hazen as ordered, and found that his plan had faltered because he had expected only light resistance, as the Sentinels were expected to fall back on a prepared line behind the Rapidan, the last natural obstacle before Cold Harbor's outlying suburbs. Instead, Calla Bighorn-Vlata had elected to make a stand, gathering every piece of artillery he could find. As a result, the 7th Falcon Regulars had marched squarely into a kill zone. Rather than charge forward as Senefa would have done, running out from under the artillery into close range and doing what the great Alexsandr Kerensky had called "grabbing them by the belt," Hazen had tried to fight it out at long range. Under normal circumstances, that was the Clan advantage, but not with artillery raining down on them. The Regulars' losses had been fairly mild, considering, with most of the downed 'Mechs able to crawl or limp off the field. Senefa had been stunned to find that Hazen's plan of attack was simply to fix as many 'Mechs as possible and charge again. She had countermanded that, and persuaded him to feint at Marye's Heights, at night, while her own 133rd Falcon Fusiliers edged around the left flank through a forest. The going would be slow and the terrain abominable, but it was better than simply trying another frontal attack. What had angered her was that so many of Hazen's officers had argued against her, saying that it was only a fluke, that honor demanded they attack again, in the same way.

Her mood had not been improved when she had addressed her Cluster on her way back to Sharpsburg. Athena Henderson was gone, and Senefa summarily relieved a few others who had been rather enthusiastic about gunning down civilians, as Kezumi and Lina had reported to her. Though she was glad to be rid of those, and from the reaction of the Cluster, she was not alone, even that had even further lowered morale—now the Fusiliers eyed each other nervously, wondering if a friend or a sibkin would turn them in. Senefa had told them that there would be no punishment for anyone else, that sometimes duty called upon them to do grim things, but the words had rung hollow. Of the Fusiliers, only Kezumi, Lina, the ten others who had refused Athena's orders, and the Elementals were blameless, the latter only because they had not been present. Shame hung heavy over the Cluster, and Senefa could only hope another battle would restore them to their normal form. She hoped the same for herself, because had she not been indulging in her need to let Sheila Arla-Vlata know who had defeated her, Athena would not have been in command and Front Royal would still exist.

They were passing by the prison now, and Senefa felt a pang of guilt at the memory of Sheila's crying over the loss of her ring. Senefa had deduced what the ring meant, and knew that what she had said had devastated her erstwhile enemy far worse than even being Dispossessed and captured. Abruptly, she turned and walked towards the front of the prison. Kezumi had to rapidly change course to keep up. "Star Colonel," he warned, "I know what you are thinking, quiaff? Do not do this! The Khan forbade it!"

"I am merely going to speak with the prison commandant for a moment. Go on, Kezumi; I will meet you at the briefing. There is plenty of time."

"Aff, Star Colonel." Kezumi waited until Senefa had gone inside to roll his eyes. "What is this Clan coming to?"

* * *

Sedale Malthus stood and shook hands with Senefa, a rare smile on his lips when she walked into his office. "Always a pleasure to meet a fellow Bloodkin," he said.

Senefa raised an eyebrow. "It was my understanding that my name was considered something of a disgrace."

"To some, perhaps, but not to me, Senefa. In fact, it cheers me that someone so competent—and young—will restore the name, after what Adler did to it." He motioned her to a chair. "Please, sit…though I am curious as to why you would come visit a jailer." Sedale shook his head in bitterness. "That is what I am, Senefa—a stravag jailer. I have petitioned the saKhan to move up the Jade Falcon Keshik to the front, but he tells me he is holding us back for the final blow." He chuckled. "I understand you have an opening for a Star Captain in your Cluster, Senefa. I suppose I could arrange to be demoted."

"We will need the Keshik," Senefa assured him. "The Sentinels will fight house to house for Cold Harbour—assuming we can push them off the Heights."

"If we had anyone but that braindead Devlin Hazen, we would be done by now." Sedale sat, waving his hand as if to ward off a fly. "Enough…why are you here, Senefa?" His expression darkened. "I hope it is not that bondswoman, Sheila. The saKhan gave me specific orders not to let you near her."

_So much for trusting me,_ Senefa thought in disgust, though she had to admit that Cavell was probably right. "It does have something to do with Sheila, though it is not necessary for me to visit her. I have something of hers, something I took when I captured her. I would like to have someone return it to her."

"Why? It is isorla, quiaff?" Sedale used the Clan term for spoils of war. "It is yours to keep."

"Do you allow your warriors to take rings and watches from their prisoners?"

"No, of course not. We are not thieves. Rank insignia, a piece of an enemy 'Mech, perhaps a belt buckle, yes, but not personal items."

"I did. It is a ring. I see no reason for her not to have it. I will send someone with it later."

Sedale shrugged. "It will make it harder on her to leave behind her old life, but very well, Senefa. It must wait, however. She is not to be brought out of isolation in Cell Block V for another three days."

"Isolation?"

"Aff. Sheila would be the senior officer here. She is expected to take command of the prisoners—the Spheroids think differently than we do and will not accept their lot as bondsmen. Still, it has been useful. Richardson is my liasion with the prisoners, and he has kept things quiet and running smooth. Nonetheless, there is still a simmering of rebellion here. Sheila might be able to rally the prisoners to attempt an escape. I decided that we would keep her alone until it is time to move her offplanet."

"That is logical." Senefa hesitated. "She is being treated well? I ask only because she was an honorable opponent."

"We did have to interrogate her—"

"_What?"_ Senefa exploded.

Sedale leaned back, shocked. "Senefa, it is standard operating procedure."

"But she knows nothing!"

"The saKhan apparently came into some information that Sheila was once a member of some important Spheroid planning committee. He wanted to know more about it. Naturally, we doubted that Sheila would merely tell us. So, he had Star Captain Athena Henderson do it, as punishment for her insubordination—"

The color drained out of Senefa's face, even as her mind shouted at her to do nothing. It was a common punishment to put MechWarriors on interrogation detail, to force them to watch others like them be broken., and was quite effective. But Cavell had selected Athena, almost certainly after he had dressed her down in front of Senefa, and humiliated her…

Senefa jumped to her feet. "I want to see her. I want to see Sheila. Now."

Sedale shook his head emphatically. "You will not. I have orders—"

"To hell with your orders!" Senefa shouted. She spun on one heel and headed for the door. Senefa had a near photographic memory, and knew where Cell Block V was.

"Star Colonel!" Sedale exclaimed. "Do not make me send my guards to stop you!"

Senefa opened the door, pulled the collapsible staff from her pocket, and extended it. She looked over her shoulder at Sedale with a glare that would terrify a ghost bear. "You may try," she snapped, and strode out.

* * *

No guards stopped Senefa, although she had seen Sedale reaching for a telephone as she left. In fact, as they had the day before at the headquarters, they scrambled to get out of her way. She was in Cell Block V in less than five minutes. There was a guard there. "Where is Bondswoman Sheila?" Senefa asked, not politely.

The guard swallowed. "Star Colonel, I am not authorized—"

Like a striking snake, Senefa's gloved left hand shot out and seized the guard by the throat. "Cell number," she growled.

"E-Eight," the guard struggled out as Senefa tightened the pressure. She shoved him back into the wall and simply pointed at the lock. He scrambled to obey, and it clicked open. The cell block beyond was dimly lit and silent. With her staff, Senefa motioned for the guard to follow, and they walked briskly to cell number eight, Senefa's boots echoing loudly down the dingy hallway. There was no one else in the block. The guard did not have to be asked to open the cell. As the door opened, the dim light inside clicked on. Senefa took two steps in, stopped, and stared.

Sheila lay under the cot suspended from the walls, on the bare floor, and despite the fact that the cell was warm enough, she was wrapped in the thin sheet that had been on the bed. Even curled up, Senefa could tell that Sheila wore nothing beneath it. Sheila faced the door, but her face was bruised, dried blood caked on her nose from a cut on her forehead. It was the eyes that brought Senefa up short. Where they had once blazed with green fire, now they were simply empty. Senefa wondered if Sheila even knew she was there.

Senefa walked into the cell and placed the staff on the floor well out of Sheila's reach, though she did not think Sheila was in any condition to take it. Then she bent down next to the other woman. "Sheila?" There was no response. Senefa looked down. The blanket covered Sheila from neck to hips, but she saw the purple bruises on her ankles, and dried blood there. Gently, the Clanswoman unwrapped the blanket; Sheila did not resist, did not even look at her. Senefa gasped in pure horror at the broken body beneath. Her arms were nothing but masses of bruises, and her shoulders were obviously dislocated; the fingers on Sheila's left hand had curled inward unnaturally, something Senefa realized was neurological damage. Mottled bruises marched across Sheila's chest from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, and from stains and smells, it was obvious Sheila had lost control of all her bodily functions. "Freebirth," Senefa began, and then realized that there was no word in any of the five languages she spoke that would suffice to curse this. She turned to the guard, who still stood there stunned. "Find a medic immediately!"

"I was given orders not to," the guard stammered, which was exactly the wrong words to say. Senefa grabbed the staff, obvious homicide in mind. That was enough for the guard, who nodded hastily and fled.

Then she turned back to Sheila. "What did they do to you?" she asked softly. Senefa had seen the results of chemical torture. Often, the victim experienced horrible hallucinations afterward, and some even hurt themselves trying to escape apparitions that tortured them as much as the drugs had—but nothing like this. Someone had done this to Sheila, and Senefa knew exactly who it was.

Sheila croaked something, and Senefa bent closer. "Water," she said through cracked lips, and Senefa saw that the other woman was badly dehydrated. There was a sink in the room, but with her arms crippled, Sheila had no way of getting to it. Senefa nodded, set Sheila down gently, then ran to the sink, stripping off her gloves. She filled a cup and brought it to Sheila; realizing that Sheila could not hold it, Senefa picked up her erstwhile enemy like a child and carefully let her drink. _And I will get a swig in hell from Gunga Din,_ Senefa thought.

"Star Colonel?" Senefa looked up and saw Elemental Star Commander Vornzel standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" she yelled. "Where is the medtech?"

"I am here to prevent…" Vornzel saw Sheila. "What is going on?"

Senefa did not answer immediately, for a medical team arrived—a medtech and an assistant. Senefa gently set Sheila down, and pointed. "Help her. Both shoulders are dislocated, she has nerve damage in the left arm, heavy bruising all over, she is dehydrated, and possibly suffering from chemical withdrawal." When the medics hesitated, Senefa shouted, "NOW!" The medtechs rushed in. Whatever orders they had before had obviously been superceded.

Senefa retrieved her gloves and her staff, then looked up at Vornzel. "What is going on, Elemental Vornzel, is that I am going to find Star Captain Athena Henderson, and I am going to kill her."

Vornzel put out a hand. "Star Colonel..." Now it was he who hesitated. "Why? She was your enemy. She humiliated you."

"She beat me in a Circle of Equals, nothing more. She showed me honor. I gave her my word, even as I robbed…" Senefa's words trailed off, then suddenly her finger shot out, pointing at Sheila. "This…_atrocity_ is not the way of the Clans, Vornzel. We do not do these things."

"I have seen worse," Vornzel said lamely.

"I do not _care_!" Senefa shouted, turning heads. "And we call the Inner Sphere barbarians? Who are the barbarians here? I see only Jade Falcons!" She rounded on the guard, who looked ready to pass out. "Who gave you your orders?"

"Star-Star Captain Athena Henderson, of the 7th Falcon—"

Senefa raised her hand for silence, then turned on Vornzel. "We do not do these things, Vornzel," she repeated. "The Kerenskys would be sickened by it. _Stefan Amaris_ did these things!" She shoved past the Elemental. "Where is Cavell Malthus? He ordered Athena to do this!"

Vornzel placed his hands on Senefa's shoulders, gently, but enough to stop her. "Star Colonel Senefa Malthus, I will _not_ allow you near the Khan in your state of mind."

"I have a briefing to attend. Do not worry, Elemental Vornzel—I shall not hurt him. I will, however, demand an explanation, and I will _have it!"_ She shrugged out of Vornzel's grip and stalked down the hallway, holstering the staff more for Vornzel's reassurance than her own.

She found Star Commander Lina waiting for her at the north entrance of the prison. One look at Senefa's face, and Lina wondered if she might find a better time for this. "Star Colonel, ovkhan, I hate to interrupt…"

"What is it?" Senefa felt her face burning. She did not think Cavell would have ordered Athena to torture Sheila in the fashion she had been. Yet he must have known that Athena would not act rationally. Moreover, he had ordered Senefa to be kept away. It made sense in that he did not want Senefa to further obsess over Sheila, but now it had an entirely different meaning: he had not wanted Senefa to see. _He knew I would react like this. He knew he was breaking my word._ She looked down at her gloves. "What is happening to us, Lina?"

Lina did not know how to answer that; she did not even know the question, so she decided to pretend it had not been asken. "Er…Star Colonel, there are four 'Mechs at Gate 14. They are requesting admittance to the Keshik's 'Mech bay." She nodded towards the park under vast amounts of camouflage netting.

"So?"

"Well, they are ours, ovkhan; they are 'Mechs from the Fusiliers." Senefa followed Lina's eyes. About three blocks away, there were four 'Mechs—a _Hellbringer,_ a _Stormcrow,_ a _Viper,_ and a _Kit Fox._ They wore forest pattern camouflage, and even at this distance Senefa could make out the banshee emblem of her own Cluster. The skull seemed to be laughing at her. "They are remounts for our losses. Since we had no orders regarding them, I thought I should find you—"

"If one more person comments to me about orders…" Senefa began, but seeing Lina's eyes widen in fear, she fought down the urge to demolish something. "Fine, Star Commander, show them through. We will round up another MechWarrior and pilot them to the DropPort." They could catch a _Leopard_-class DropShip there and ferry them to the front. Senefa distractedly was glad to see that someone in the vast Jade Falcon bureaucracy had remembered that they were still two Stars understrength; four 'Mechs was a start. She walked past Lina, who wisely took it as a dismissal. Something was bothering the Star Colonel, and Senefa Malthus was not one to be around when she was overly agitated; now was not the time to ask questions. Lina hurried over to the checkpoint.

* * *

"Authorization confirmed, Star Commander Fale," the radio crackled. "March over to the holding zone, dismount, and await orders. The Fusiliers will probably send their own MechWarriors to take over. Once they are there, report back to the DropPort for reassignment."

"Aff. Understood. Out." The radio clicked off. Behind her neurohelmet's visor, Elfa Brownoak grinned as she pushed the pedals down and walked towards the park behind the Jade Falcons' headquarters. "Suckers," she added.


	6. Shattered Dreams

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: I had to break up this chapter as well; the prison break was just getting too long. It'll probably take another two chapters to fully resolve. Again, a minor warning…there are some squicky portions in this chapter as well. I'm not sadistic, honest._

_Oh, and when Elfa attacks, I suggest either some Drowning Pool or Rob Zombie to get the right ambience. (You'll figure out why.)_

_As always, thanks for the kind reviews. Strangely enough, I'm glad to see that there is some real hate in these reviews (not directed at me, thank goodness!). I think the best villains are ones that you can really despise and want to see go down, hard. I don't count Senefa as a villain, obviously; this chapter should resolve some of that. Kat, you're right as usual: she's very confused. I hope that the resolution of that confusion doesn't seem forced. _

_Rouge and Moisin, I think you both bring up some very good points. That's part of Senefa's problem. She's been brought up to believe that she is the pinnacle of human development, along with her warrior peers. Now, all of a sudden, these "perfect" warriors are being inhumanly cruel, acting without the honor that she has been raised and trained to believe is paramount. Her world is imploding around her. (By "Senefa," I'm wondering if you mean "Athena"—if so, you won't have to wait until Tukayyid for _that _problem to be resolved…but you will have to wait until the next story arc.) _

_Knives and FraserMage—of course the Clans fell for the oldest trick in the book. That's why it's the oldest trick in the book! (In their defense, the Inner Sphere isn't supposed to have captured any Clan 'Mechs. They have no reason to think that their own 'Mechs might be used against them. At least they're not as dumb as the Trojans.) And welcome aboard, Noveltigger! Hope you all are enjoying the ride._

_And now, on with da show…_

_Clan Jade Falcon General Headquarters, Sharpsburg_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_19 June 3051_

SaKhan Cavell Malthus looked at the holotank intensely. "Are you certain?" he asked a tech, who held a hand to his earpiece. He nodded. "Aff, ovkhan. Sentinel units all along the line went to alert five minutes ago." _That is odd,_ Cavell thought. _Smoke without fire. Does Calla know I am planning an attack in three hours?_ Out of the corner of one eye, Cavell saw Senefa enter the command post. "Continue monitoring the situation." He left the holotank and met Senefa halfway. Cavell already knew what this was about, and was not looking forward to it.

"May I speak with you?" she asked. Her voice was politely lowered, but it was delivered through clenched teeth.

"Certainly." Cavell put his hands behind his back.

"Alone?"

"This is alone enough." No one was paying them any attention—not overtly, in any case—and Cavell was concerned that, once alone, Senefa might well kill him. "I know what you are here for, Senefa." He held up a hand to stop her from continuing. "I warned you to no longer have anything to do with that bondswoman."

Senefa reddened in a very uncharacteristic show of anger. "You warned me away to keep me from interfering."

Cavell sighed. "Star Colonel, Bondswoman Sheila had information that we may need. Therefore, I ordered the interrogation. I agree that chemical torture is unpleasant, but—"

"Chemical torture!" Senefa shouted, causing heads to turn. "Star Captain Henderson tried to murder her! Her shoulders are dislocated, she has been beaten, bound, left to die in a cold room with no means of getting water—"

Cavell closed his eyes against the vocal gale. "Star Colonel, keep your voice down."

"Why should I?" Senefa did lower her voice nonetheless. "Ovkhan, _you_ gave the orders to have Sheila interrogated, quiaff?"

"Aff," Cavell said, irritated.

"And you assigned Athena Henderson to do it, quiaff?"

"Aff. I could not very well assign you, could I? I was punishing Athena for her insubordination. She physically abused Bondswoman Sheila, quiaff?"

"That is what I said," Senefa retorted.

"It is no affair of yours, Star Colonel."

"I gave my word!"

Cavell took a step forward. He was the same height as Senefa, but it was his rank that was meant to intimidate. "And I _told_ you it was not your word to give, Senefa. Since we are speaking of insubordination, perhaps we should address yours."

"I have not been disrespectful," Senefa hissed back, mindful of the room.

"You have not? You visited the bondswoman despite orders to the contrary."

"There was something of hers that I took…it was wrong of me to do so. I am no thief, so I spoke to Sedale Malthus about returning it. It was he who told me of Sheila's torture—I had to find out second-hand!" Senefa took a breath. Cavell had to be made to see. "Ovkhan, we are not barbarians. What Athena did would turn the stomach of a Smoke Jaguar. It was something that Stefan Amaris would have done. If you will not do something, then at least allow me a Trial of Grievance. I know you have forbidden them, but this is something that cannot stand. For the honor of the Clan—"

"_That is enough!"_ Cavell's shout whipcracked around the room. Conversation ceased. All eyes turned on the Star Colonel and the saKhan. "Senefa, I have been patient with you, but you will _not_ presume to lecture me on the honor of the Jade Falcons! What Athena did is none of your business, and you do not need to know why I ordered her to do it because _I am the goddamned Khan and you are a goddamn Star Colonel!"_

Senefa's eyes were wide. Cavell had never spoken to her in such a fashion, much less curse her; in her experience, she had seen Cavell lose his temper but never like this. He looked as if he very much wanted to kill her.

The holotank tech, looking like he very much wanted to be somewhere else, far away, summoned up his courage and cleared his throat. "My Khan?"

"What?" Cavell said over his shoulder. His eyes were still on Senefa.

"Sir, the holotank. Look."

Cavell did. At the bottom of the holoprojection, a mass of dots had appeared. The holo was of the air-search pattern of Jade Falcon-controlled ground radar stations. It showed a massive Sentinel airstrike, and its target was fairly obvious. Cavell saw it instantly. Calla Bighorn-Vlata was not going to attack the Jade Falcons in front of Marye's Heights; he was going to try and decapitate the Clan by hitting its headquarters. "Active air scramble," Cavell snapped. "Everything we have." The Jade Falcons only had about thirty fighters to defend themselves; the Sentinels had a large air wing, and if the 12th Star Guards were added to the mix, the Clan fighter pilots might be facing two or even three to one odds. Unlike their Elemental and MechWarrior brethren, the fighter pilot corps had not had overwhelming success against their Inner Sphere opponents. "Prepare my own fighter. I will join the defense." Khan he was, MechWarrior he had to be, but Cavell had been a fighter pilot first and foremost, and he found himself looking forward to an aerial duel. He began to head out the door, but paused. "See to your Cluster, Star Colonel," he growled. "We will finish this later."

Senefa waited until he was gone, then went out the opposite door. "We certainly will," she whispered.

* * *

Max Canis-Vlata checked his watch. Something should be happening soon.

He had entered the base with only Tooriu; the latter was pushing a cart of firewood. They were dressed as civilians, swaddled in heavy winter coats. The Jade Falcons had forbidden the use of vehicles by civilians in an effort to curtail partisan activity, so the locals had fallen back on horses and carts. Petroleum had also been limited by the Clans, so heating required firewood, and cutting parties were common. The Falcons paid them no attention, apparently not realizing that many of these wood gatherers were either contacting partisans or partisans themselves. Both he and Tooriu had up to date passes, provided by the mysterious Wolf, and this had easily let them through Clan checkpoints—except the last, around the security zone surrounding the central part of Sharpsburg and the Jade Falcon headquarters.

Max resisted the nervous urge to smile as he handed over his pass to the Jade Falcon guard at the checkpoint. The others had been manned by rather bored foot soldiers, probably the lowest rung on the Falcon military ladder, but this one was manned by a mix of foot soldiers and Elementals, the latter in full armor. They were alert and did not look bored at all. Max tried not to look scared as the guard slipped his pass into a reader. If they were caught, it was quite likely he and Tooriu would be killed. Both wore their uniforms underneath the civilian clothes: under the Ares Conventions, being caught in civilian clothes or clothes with no identifying marks meant one could be shot as a spy quite legally. Wearing a uniform underneath was permissible, but it was doubtful the Clans were in a mood to observe the niceties of treaties.

"Firewood?" the guard asked dubiously.

"Yes, sir," Max replied. "For the prison."

"We shall see," the guard said, and motioned to the nearest Elemental. Max and Tooriu stepped back from the cart. The Elemental methodically went through the wood, throwing some of it on the ground, until he got to the bottom. "Clear," he told the guard. Max and Tooriu had to pick up the logs and put them back into the cart. The reader beeped, indicating that the passes were legitimate. Max decided he really didn't want to know how Wolf had obtained them.

"Very well," the guard said, thumbing behind him. Max waited until they were well out of sight before he exchanged a glance with Tooriu. "Whew," the big man said with a sigh of relief. "Didn't think they were going to buy it."

Max then glanced at his watch again. They were almost at the front door of the prison. He saw the digital display count past 1900 hours local, then 1901 and 1902. Night had long since fallen. At 1905, the air raid alarms went off across the town. He and Tooriu immediately quickened their pace, heading for the front door. An armored Elemental stepped in front of them, holding out a claw. "Halt!"

"Let us in!" Tooriu bellowed. "Air raid! We could get killed out here, dude!"

The Elemental hesitated, then stepped aside. "Go on." The claw shot out and grabbed the cart. "This stays outside!"

Tooriu actually shoved his way past. "No way! I spent all fuckin' day cutting this shit; I'm not gonna leave it out here to get made into toothpicks by some fuckin' merc pilot!" The Elemental, astounded at Tooriu's effrontery, let both of them pass.

"You should've been an actor," Max told him when they were out of earshot.

"Actors don't get enough tail," Tooriu grinned. They were in the courtyard. "Okay…you go get Sheila while I create ye old clattering disturbance on the other side of the building." They checked their watches. "Felisanna will bring the horses as soon as Elfa starts the show. I'll let the other prisoners out, we'll steal some magnificent conveyance, and then we'll ride like hell for the woods."

"Let's hope so." They shook hands. "Luck, Tooriu."

"Feh. I was born lucky!"

Max found the right piece of wood and pressed in two tabs hidden in the top. The "wood" split open, revealing a shotgun. It had been a gift from their mysterious benefactor, another MIIO trick he was probably better off not knowing about. Max slipped it under his jacket and headed for Cell Block V. Tooriu walked towards the other cell blocks, whistling as he did so.

* * *

Senefa Malthus wandered. She told herself that she was returning to the prison to make sure Sheila was being treated per her orders—after all, she could not get into more trouble than she already was—but in reality she was simply wandering. She had at least radioed Kazumi to bring the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers to full alert, and she would meet him at the DropPort with the replacement 'Mechs. Other than that, for the first time in her life, Senefa had no idea what to do.

_Lead your Cluster into battle,_ she told herself. _All else will come together._ Yet another voice asked why. Her Cluster was as confused as she was. All of them had been trained since birth, quite literally, to fight for the glory of Clan Jade Falcon. That glory had been shown to be tainted. Senefa had expected Athena to be punished, severely, for Front Royal. Instead, Athena had been given a slap on the wrist, and not only that, had been given the opportunity to hurt Senefa again. And she had done it with at the very least tacit approval from Cavell Malthus, whom Senefa had looked up to since the day she had graduated a Star Commander from her sibko. She had done what she was always told to do—go up the chain of command—but it had done nothing. She could keep going, of course, to Elias Crichell or even Vandervahn Chistu, but those two were not known for mercy; any action they took against Cavell would be motivated by politics, not any sense of honor. They would happily discard Senefa and her tainted Bloodname at the nearest opportunity. Senefa found the word she had been looking for: betrayal. She felt betrayed. _How can I fight for a Clan that no longer follows its own way?_ she asked herself bitterly. _Has everything I have been told, since the earliest days of the sibko, been a lie?_

Her mind was still whirling when she absently bumped into someone running in the opposite direction. "Excuse me, ma'am," the man said with something between a salute and a bow, then he kept moving. Senefa merely nodded, then stopped. She turned, looked at the man's back, and said distinctly, "Max."

Max involuntarily looked behind him. Their eyes locked. "Your name is Max," Senefa said. She recognized him from Planting; as she had been half-dragged, barely conscious, from the muddy, bloody Circle of Equals, it had been him who had been doing the same for his wife. By the look in his eyes, he recognized her as well, and from his expression, he was going to most certainly kill her.

Max's coat opened as he brought up the shotgun. A round was already chambered. He gripped the pump and his finger closed on the trigger, the barrel centered on Senefa's head. Max saw red. This was the woman who had tried to kill Sheila; this was the woman who wasn't content with simply capturing Sheila and taking her away from him, but who had to torture her as well in the bargain. He fired. The shot was deafening, echoing down the hallway.

He missed.

Senefa had dodged to one side, with the uncanny speed of a Clan MechWarrior. She spun like a ballerina, one hand slapping the shotgun to one side while Max was in the middle of chambering another round, the other delivering a solid blow to his chest. Max went flying down the corridor, losing his grip on the gun. He got to his feet quickly, but Senefa was altogether too fast, and he found himself with a staff at his throat. _Of all the shitty luck _was all he could think of.

"The air raid," Senefa said softly. "It's a diversion. You're here for Sheila."

"Yeah." Max looked daggers at her. "That was easy, wasn't it? Didn't even have to torture me for it." To his surprise, he saw Senefa's eyes change with something that looked very much like pain. He was wondering if he would be fast enough to knock away the staff before Senefa crushed his throat.

Instead, Senefa drew back the staff. With her left hand, she reached down and handed Max the shotgun. "Take it."

Max hesitatingly did so. "What the hell…"

"Follow me. Shoot me if you wish." Senefa brushed past him. Max, stunned, did his best to keep up.

The same guard was on duty that had been there earlier. He moved as fast as Senefa had seen anyone move to get out of their way and motioned both her and Max through with a salute. They were at Sheila's cell in seconds, but there were guards on the door—not Vornzel, Senefa was glad to see. "Out of the way," she snapped.

The taller of the two guards shook his head. "I am sorry, Star Colonel, but we have been ordered not to let anyone in."

"Who told you that?"

"Star Colonel Sedale Malthus." He folded his arms across his body. "I regret to say those orders specifically mentioned you, Star Colonel."

"They did, quiaff?" Senefa spun the staff to hold it in both hands, then struck, shoving it forward to smash both men in the face. As both men shouted in pain and surprise and crumpled, she spun the staff again, cracking the tall one in the back of the head. Turning on one foot, she slammed the staff into the second man's stomach. Both guards went down and stayed there, one unconscious and the other groaning. Senefa reached down, snatched the code key from the tall man's belt, and tossed it to Max.

"What the hell are you doing?" Max exclaimed.

"Correcting a mistake," Senefa replied. She nodded at the door. "Go." Max hurriedly unlocked the cell door and rushed in, expecting to see Sheila resting on her bed, ready to go. He even had a good corny line ready—_I'm Luke Skywalker and I'm here to rescue you_—but it died on his lips. She was on the bed all right, but she wasn't moving, and from the marks on her body, she wouldn't be soon. "Oh my God." Shotgun and key fell on the floor and he knelt at her side. She was loosely wrapped in the blanket, naked underneath, bruised and battered.

Senefa walked in, keeping an eye on the hallway. Quickly and professionally, she surveyed Sheila. The medtech had popped her shoulders back into place and cleaned the dried blood from her face, but she still looked horrible. Her eyes were closed, but her face was so pale that only the rise and fall of her chest revealed that Sheila was even still alive. "I am sorry," Senefa said lamely, ashamed. "It was not—" In one fluid motion, Max stood, turned, and smashed a fist into Senefa's nose. Taken by surprise, the Clanswoman dropped to the floor, the staff clattering away. Max scooped up the shotgun, cocked it, and leveled it at Senefa's head.

"Max, stop." Sheila's voice came as a croak. "Stop. It wasn't…it wasn't her."

"What?" Max's hand wavered. Senefa was staring up at him, her eyes hard and unafraid, wiping at the blood dripping from her nose.

"Senefa…she didn't do this…it was another Clanner." Trembling with pain, Sheila reached out a hand and touched Max's jacket. "She…not her fault. Please, love…not her."

Max was torn between simply pulling the trigger and embracing his wife. He decided to do the latter, bending down and kissing her as hard as he could. There wasn't time to cry, but both felt tears on their cheeks. Her hand snaked up behind his head with a trace of her old strength, and Max wanted to crush her to his chest and never let go. "You came for me," Sheila said.

"Had to. Can you walk?"

"I'll walk out of here…" Sheila swung her legs off the cot, stood, and quickly dropped to her knees. "Guess…I'm not gonna walk anywhere…"

"I'll carry you." Max got her back on the bed, made sure the blanket was clasped tight around her, then tucked her legs under his arms. She saw what he was doing and put her arms around his chest. Max cradled the shotgun. Both of them looked at Senefa, who had picked herself off the floor and retrieved her staff. "Look," Max said, "you've already done enough. God knows what they're going to do to you if they find out you helped us escape. I can't guarantee your safety next time we meet on the field, but—"

"Come with us," Sheila interrupted.

Senefa had been about to say something about her chances—being reassigned to a solahma unit was the best she could hope for now; even if she killed the guards at the cell door and the one at the entrance, there were cameras in the cell block. She had accepted her fate: while Senefa did not believe in a higher power, she understood the meaning of karma, and her death would square the dishonor of Sheila's torture and Front Royal. But this was something entirely different. "What?" Senefa asked, incredulously.

"You offered me a place in the Falcons," Sheila told her, her voice steadier. Max's mere prescence was giving her strength. "So I'll return the favor."

"Join barbarians?" Senefa exclaimed. Then she remembered what she had told Vornzel. _Who are the barbarians?_ Senefa looked down at herself, at the uniform she wore. _Turn my back on everything I know? Can I do that? Raise my hand against my sibkin?_ "I don't…I don't know…" She was in such a turmoil she didn't realize she was using contractions.

"We don't have time for this," Max said. "Come on." Taking a breath—upper body strength was not something Max had in abundance—he hurried out the door. Sheila glanced back at Senefa. The Clanswoman hesitated a moment longer, then turned and followed.

* * *

Star Commander Lina walked towards the _Hellbringer._ The techs that piloted the 'Mechs to Sharpsburg should have dismounted by now; the cockpits were dark and the four 'Mechs were in the loose-jointed pose that indicated a shut-down. Neither Star Captain Kazumi nor Star Colonel Senefa Malthus was here to tell her what exactly to do. Lina decided that it was time for a little initiative. If the rumors were right and the airstrike was heading towards Sharpsburg itself, then the headquarters was terribly vulnerable if anyone got through. The Jade Falcon Keshik's pilots were on their way, and once deployed they would be a formidable force indeed to any Spheroid pilot who got through the fighter screen. Still, Lina thought, there was always the chance that it was a sucker play, that attackers were coming in at low level. If that was the case, then it might be a good idea to at least have some 'Mechs already out on antiaircraft duty.

Lina reached out and grabbed the rungs of the ladder built into the side of the _Hellbringer_. Instantly, she knew something was wrong. A shut down 'Mech did not give off the faint vibration of a running fusion engine. _Stupid freebirth techs,_ she thought, but then reconsidered; at least she would not have to cold start the 'Mechs. She clambered up the rungs quickly. Though she liked light and medium 'Mechs more, there was nothing wrong with a bit of an upgrade. She pulled on the cockpit latch and it slid aside. She crawled about a pace forward before she realized that there was a very large gun being pointed between her eyes. "Piss off," the woman inside growled, thumbing back the hammer to emphasize her point. Lina nodded and just as quickly as she had gone up the ladder went down it, falling the last ten feet. She picked herself up and looked around at the techs who were looking at her strangely. "It is a trick!" she yelled. "They are—"

She was drowned out as the external speakers came to life on the _Hellbringer_. There was a brief buzz of feedback, then the speakers exploded with the dissonant sounds of speed metal, Elfa Brownoak's idea of distraction. It was effective, but not nearly as much as the _Hellbringer's_ million-candlepower searchlight snapping on, the weapon arms coming up, and twin PPC bolts sizzling out and blowing a hole in the wall surrounding the Sharpsburg jail.

At that point, all hell broke loose.

* * *

Max had to take a break; he just wasn't strong enough to carry Sheila the entire way. They both sagged against the wall. Sheila looked over at Senefa, who annoyingly had barely broken a sweat. "You're coming with us, then?"

"I will help you escape, if that is what you mean." Senefa felt somewhat giddy with resignation. She was going to die disgraced, so if that was going to happen, she might as well make it memorable. There was no point in getting them all killed.

"Why do you care?" Max puffed out, looking at his wife. "She was the one who took you down in the Valley!"

Sheila nodded. "She also treated me decently." She tried to hold herself up. It was obvious she was running on sheer willpower and adrenalin. "The bastards dislocated my shoulders, Max. Senefa gave me water when I couldn't help myself, and got medtechs to help me—before they were ordered away, anyhow." She looked over at Senefa. "Athena told me you swore to keep your word. She took great pleasure in going against it."

"A reckoning is coming for Athena Henderson," Senefa swore. "In this life or the next." She shook her head. "Sheila, let us not make too much of any heroism on my part. I treated you foully in the hospital."

"Offering me a place in the Clan is not treating me foully, Senefa."

Senefa smiled humorlessly. "Fat lot of good it did me, quiaff? Now I have no place even in my own Clan." She paused. "I have your ring. I did not destroy it."

"I know. You're a lousy liar." Sheila put an arm around her husband. "After I stopped crying and feeling sorry for myself, I thought about it for awhile—" She was cut off by an explosion. "What—"

"That'll be Elfa." Max grinned at Sheila's shock. "Elfa's got four captured OmniMechs in the 'Mech pen on the other side of the jail. She'll wreck as many 'Mechs as she can and cover us on the way out." Max didn't trust Senefa enough to say anything of the other diversionary attack: a full company of the Snowbirds, led by Marion Rhialla, would be surfacing from walking on the ocean floor, striking Sharpsburg from the west. Coupled with the air attack, which was not aimed at the Jade Falcon headquarters at all, but rather a massive fighter sweep designed to keep Clan fighters from strafing the rescuers, the Falcons would be hit from three directions at once—four, if the Vantaa Rangers were successful in breaking out the POWs at Camp Unity.

"All this…for me?" Tears welled up in Sheila's eyes.

"Well, not _just_ for you. We want to bust out as many as we can…but yes."

"Oh God, Max." She hugged her husband and kissed him. Senefa looked on silently. She knew that there was no one who would do the same for her. Prisoners taken by other Clans or captured by the Inner Sphere were considered as good as dead.

Reluctantly, Max broke the kiss. "As much as I'd like to continue, we'd better get going…" His voice trailed off, and all three turned in the direction of a steady, rhythmic thumping. It was coming from inside the corridor, so it couldn't be a 'Mech, which left just one possibility. In horror, all three of them saw it was an Elemental, in full armor; he came around the corner and halted. He hesitated, seeing Senefa and recognizing the uniform, if not the face, but then the laser arm swung up. Senefa shouted at the Elemental to hold fire, but he evidently wasn't listening, for the laser centered itself on Max and Sheila.

Max suddenly remembered his father Todd giving him advice: _if you're ever confronted by a heavier 'Mech and you can't get away, charge the son of a bitch. _So Max did, sprinting forward and yelling at the top of his lungs. He heard Sheila scream his name, but he knew it was their only chance. With Sheila crippled, they couldn't run. Max's whole world seemed to narrow down to the muzzle of the laser on the Elemental, expecting to see a ruby flash that would probably be the last thing he ever saw.

The Elemental didn't fire; his arm dropped a little and actually took a step back, unsure of just what the maddened Spheroid was doing. The shock wore off in a second, however, and the laser realigned itself. Max dropped into a baseball slide and skidded underneath the Elemental, between the legs. He jammed the muzzle of the shotgun into the thin opening where the leg joined with the torso and pulled the trigger. The shot sounded dull, muffled by the armor, as did the scream that followed. Max quickly worked the pump action and fired three more times. The Elemental trembled and collapsed backwards as Max scrambled out from under it. He jumped on the armor and fired another shot into the armored suit's viewplate just to be sure. The shotgun clicked on an empty chamber, so he tossed it aside and pulled out a needler concealed inside the coat, running back to Sheila. "Come on!" Sheila and Senefa dumbly nodded; the latter helped Sheila onto Max's back.

They were heading for the door when it abruptly disintegrated. Max shielded Sheila as best he could from fragments. The smoke cleared to reveal a grinning Tooriu Kku, holding a short-barreled grenade launcher. "Heya, Max! Right on time. Sorry about that—the door was locked and I had to find a key." He waved the launcher, then abruptly spotted Senefa. He brought it up and pointed it at her, though if he fired at that range he was as likely to kill Max and Sheila as Senefa.

"Hold up, Tooriu!" Max told him. "She's with us. For now, anyway." At Tooriu's stare, Max just said, "It's a long story."

"Well, uh…whatever." Tooriu motioned forward. "You first, Clanner! We got a ways to go. Just hope Felisanna brought the horses." Senefa briskly walked past, exchanging glacial stares with the big MechWarrior; as she went past, Max noticed that Tooriu's eyes lingered on the Clanswoman's derriere. "You're hopeless, Tooriu," Max said.

"What?" He handed Max the grenade launcher. "Here, you take this. I'll take Sheila." Max didn't move for a moment, then bowed to Tooriu's logic; he _was_ stronger. Max felt a brief pang of jealousy at Sheila's former lover. Tooriu easily hefted Sheila onto his back. "Hey, Sheila! You and Max stop for a quick threesome with the Clan chick or something, you being naked and all?"

Sheila slapped him on the back of the head. "Hentai! Only you would think that in the middle of a prison break!" She tried to sinch up the blanket; it was bad enough that her own rear end was flapping the breeze, as it were. Tooriu's laugh was swallowed up in another explosion that rocked the prison. Just over the wall, a fireball climbed into the air. They watched as a _Dragonfly_ leapt over the wall in hot pursuit of two Elementals. "That's Drax," Max explained. "Elfa's in the _Loki;_ Philip Scott and Tessya Blackthorn took the _Ryoken_ and the _Uller._"

"Where the hell…"

"Nicia was holding out on us." He turned at the clatter of horse hoofs on concrete. The doors to the prison had already been blown open; Tooriu's clattering disturbance. Felisanna came charging through, expertly leading four horses by their bridles. She spotted them and waved happily with her free hand. At that point, one of the remaining Jade Falcon foot soldiers stepped out from the shadows and opened fire with a submachinegun. Felisanna and her horse went down in a tumble of hooves; the other horses, already on the edge of panic with all the explosions and the hard run through an abandoned checkpoint, fled. Max raised the grenade launcher, but the guard was seized from behind by several pairs of hands and dragged back into the shadows. Max tossed the grenade launcher back to Tooriu and ran over to Felisanna. "Are you hit?" The horse was dead, its skull shattered by bullets.

"No," Felisanna struggled out from clenched teeth. "He fell on my leg. I think it's broken…" When Max began to pull her from under the horse, she screamed. "Oh yeah, it's definitely broken!" Max stopped pulling and tried to shove the horse off of her, but it was too heavy.

Both Tooriu and Sheila saw him struggle. "Go and help him," Sheila said, trying to climb off Tooriu's back and ending up more or less falling off. "I'll be okay!" she yelled at Tooriu's look. "Just go." Tooriu nodded, dropped the launcher at her feet, and ran to help Max.

Sheila lay back on the half-frozen ground, not feeling the cold at all. _All this for me,_ she thought in amazement. _The mission was me. They wouldn't abandon me._ She felt guilty, knowing the Snowbirds probably wouldn't have attempted the mass escape had she not been captured, but it was good all the same to be out of the cell. Even if she died out here, at least it was with friends, not being stuck in a cell or dying by millimeters at the hands of Athena Henderson's straps and drugs. Even now, her shoulders ached and her left arm felt numb. The Clan medtechs had done a good enough job; Sheila figured they would know how, considering it had been a medtech that had helped do this to her. Her left arm probably had a greenstick fracture. After she had been injected with the drugs, she had flailed around, trying to escape demons wearing the Elemental Xehas' face, with Athena's voice feeling like razor blades being drawn across every inch of her body. Unable to lift her head, she had smashed it against the floor of the cell, trying to knock herself out, even to kill herself rather than endure the pain. Sheila shuddered at the memory of completely losing control of everything—her mind, her body, even her bladder and bowels. She didn't remember being dragged back to the cell, only of more nightmares until an angel arrived to give her water. The angel turned out to be wearing the green leather of a Jade Falcon uniform, but Senefa Malthus was no less welcome. Sheila looked around for her surprise ally, but Senefa was nowhere to be seen. She was about to call out when something humanoid shaped crashed to the ground only two meters in front of her.

Sheila yelped in surprise, then scrambled backwards as fast as her abused legs would take her when the shape shook itself and shakily stood: it was yet another Elemental. It looked a little worse for wear, having apparently been on the losing end of an argument with one of the Snowbird OmniMechs; the armor was breached in places and covered with the sticky black substance the suit automatically sprayed to seal wounds to both the suit and the person inside. The SRM pack was a blackened ruin and the laser looked split down the middle, but the machine gun underslung on the left arm apparently worked, because the Elemental raised it and pointed it at the little group thronged around Felisanna and her fallen horse.

The pain of her injuries disappeared in a rush of adrenalin as Sheila grabbed the grenade launcher. She braced it against the ground, not trusting her shoulders, and fired. The grenade spiraled out and slammed into the Elemental's head, spinning it off its feet. Sheila ducked as armor spalled off the suit from the explosion, but when she looked up, the Elemental was down next to her, close enough that she could reach out and touch it. "That's payback, jerk," she muttered as she covered herself with the rapidly-bedraggled blanket. "Guess I'm the only person ever to kill an Elemental buck naked—"

Without warning, the Elemental surged back to life. The claw snaked out and grabbed Sheila by the left arm. She screamed in terror and in pain as it clamped down, her right arm scrambling to raise the grenade launcher. She brought it around, even though the range was far too close to use. In response, the claw tightened and closed: Sheila's screams rose in intensity as the bones in her arm crunched and were crushed audibly. She was dragged upwards and her arm twisted in the steel grasp as the Elemental stood, but blessedly the black wall of unconsiciousness dropped over her vision. The Elemental dropped her and raised the machine gun to finish the job, when it was itself grabbed by a metal fist and snatched upwards. It beat helplessly on the hand of the _Dragonfly_ before Marcus Drax slammed it into the ground, then raised a tripartite metal foot and crushed the Elemental beneath it.

Max was already running back to Sheila; her screams had been audible even over the battle. He quickly covered her up again. "Sheila! Sheila, baby, are you okay? Speak to me!" He shook her gently, then noticed her arm. It was barely recognizable as one, hanging limply and at a gruesome right angle. No bones protruded from the fracture, and Max wondered if there were even bones left there. He quickly searched for a pulse on her uninjured wrist; it was weak but it was still there. Tooriu came up; Felisanna had been freed and was being supported by two former prisoners, both of whom wore Vantaa Militia uniforms. It had been they who had overpowered the guard that had shot Felisanna's horse, having been part of a bathroom cleaning party that had seen the opportunity to escape. "We've got to get her out of here," Max said softly, trying to stay in control at the sight of his wife's broken body. "S-Signal Drax; his _Dragonfly_ is the best chance—"

"What happened—freebirth!" Senefa had returned and her hands went to her mouth involuntarily at Sheila's condition.

"Where the fuck were you?" Max shouted at her, glad of a target to vent his rage on.

Senefa recovered quickly. "Getting them." She pointed behind her, where prisoners began to fill the courtyard. She had dashed over to the southernmost cell block, easily subdued the three guards left on duty there, and deactivated the master locks. Senefa had shut away the despair and came to a decision: her Clan had wronged her, and now she was going to wrong it back in an act of singular and awesome revenge. "This one says he knows you."

"Max? Max Canis-Vlata?" The man who addressed them wore Jade Falcon-issued coveralls, but even in the half-light Max could make out the graying blond hair and scarred face of Jordy Kumano, one of the "old heads" who had joined the Sentinels after leaving the famous Tyr Regiment of the Fourth Succession War. He noticed Sheila and nodded. "You have a plan, son?"

"Y-Yeah," Max stammered. He couldn't think. Tooriu had picked Sheila up like a baby, because she couldn't stay on the ground. All he could see was the dangling arm and her slack face.

Kumano understood. He turned to the prisoners, taking command. "All right, all of you! Gather weapons and ammo. Leftenant Carnes, you still here?"

"Yes, sir!" It was a woman who answered.

"Where's Captain Richardson?"

"Haven't seen him, sir."

"Very well. Take seven people and secure transportation from the prison motor pool. It's over on that side." He pointed north. Carnes saluted and went off, a dozen trailing in her wake. "The rest of you. Set up a defensive perimeter. Block the gates. The Clanners are confused at the moment, but that won't last. Once we get enough vehicles, we'll try and break out to the south, covered by the 'Mechs!" He grinned. "I can't guarantee we'll make it, but it's better to die on our feet than live on our knees!"


	7. Take Her A Prize!

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: __Since a new semester is starting up, and because I'm having a lot of fun with it, I wanted to finish this story ASAP. So here's a quick update. I'll try and get the next chapter up within the next day or two; it's a big 'Mech fight, so I'm looking forward to writing that one. Still, lotsa action in this chapter. Again, I decided to break it up into two chapters._

_Kat and Moisin, you should like this chapter—hopefully I'm relieving Kat's suspense, and Moisin's question about Senefa to a certain extent. (Kat, I haven't forgotten _Nibelung; _just haven't had the opportunity to R&R yet.) And RougeBaron…I checked out your profile, so I think you'll like an "alter ego" towards the end of the chapter.

* * *

_

_Sharpsburg DropPort_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_16 June 3051_

"BattleMechs, western perimeter!"

Elemental Star Commander Iona Hazen felt her heart quicken at the shout. The city of Sharpsburg was ten kilometers south of the DropPort, separated by wide, now frozen fields. She had heard explosions followed by a garbled radio transmission that the Jade Falcons' headquarters were under attack by 'Mechs. The Jade Falcon Keshik had already been heading south to lend their weight to the attack on Marye's Heights, but the report of 'Mechs in Sharpsburg itself had caused them to turn around. Other reports had followed: loss of contact with Star Colonel Sedale Malthus at the Sharpsburg Prison, the 'Mech repair yard next to the prison in flames, an uprising at the POW camp directly west of the DropPort. Since Elemental Star Captain Carson Icaza was also in the city and nowhere to be found, Iona had taken command of the fifty Elementals and about two hundred foot infantry and techs she had at the DropPort. She had sent half her force to quell the uprising at the POW camp, only to get yet another transmission that the POWs were backed up by a force of infantry and at least a company of 'Mechs. To compound the chaos, just as that report had come in, fighters had begun to return from an abortive battle over Marye's Heights. Iona had then ordered the DropPort closed, fearing an assault by 'Mechs, an order approved by saKhan Cavell Malthus, who diverted himself and the remaining fighters to an airfield twenty kilometers east of Sharpsburg. Everything was in chaos, and though they had seen tracer fire and explosions at the POW camp, it had trailed off to scattered, distant shots. Nothing had been heard on the radio. Everything was in chaos, and Iona Hazen felt very much out of her depth.

Now there were 'Mechs bearing down on her. The DropPort was surrounded on all sides by a wide sunken highway backed by a high wall and occasional watchtowers. While there were no heavy weapons emplaced, it still made a good defensive position—if she had more troops. She would be hard-pressed to hold it against a force larger than her own, and anything bigger than a Star of enemy 'Mechs would probably overwhelm her 25 remaining Elementals. She could expect no air support, with the Jade Falcon Aerofighters down being rearmed and refueled. The one good spot was that there was a DropShip in port, a huge _Overlord_-class named the _Minerva,_ the flagship of the 133rd Falcon Fusiliers. It was fully fueled and armed; Elemental Star Commander Vornzel, who had been sent to the DropPort to prep the _Minerva_ for deployment by a Star Captain Kazumi of the Fusiliers, had done his job well. The bulk and massive firepower the DropShip could bring to bear was comforting.

"Radio the Keshik," Iona told an unarmored infantryman as they walked up the stairs to the parapet, Iona having to walk carefully due to the awkward Elemental armor. "Send that we have contacted 'Mechs, possibly enemy. Then let the _Minerva_ know, and order refuelling to stop on the fighters." Alert klaxons were already going off over the base. The radioman saluted.

Iona was joined by one of her Elementals. She engaged the zoom function on her suit's viewscreen, projected on the V-shaped faceplate. The 'Mechs were in shadow, but they did not look like Inner Sphere 'Mechs. They switched on running lights, and Iona relaxed. "They are ours," she sighed, not afraid to sound relieved.

"Aff," the other Elemental agreed. "Whew. There are only four, though…they have taken some damage, it appears. According to the sigils, they are 133rd Falcon Fusiliers."

Iona signaled the radioman. "Belay those transmissions. The 'Mechs are friendly. Let Star Commander Vornzel know some of his comrades are here." Iona stepped up on the parapet itself and waved her clawed hand. She keyed her radio to the right frequency. "Fusilier _Hellbringer,_ this is Elemental Star Commander Iona Hazen, commanding Delta Strider Three. Identify yourself." Regulations were regulations; Icaza would have her rear end in a sling if she did not obey them.

"Delta Strider Three, this is Star Colonel Senefa Malthus, commanding 133rd Falcon Fusiliers."

"Advance and be recognized."

"Password is Greyhound," Senefa told her. "Countersign?"

Iona looked at a pad taped to her claw arm. The password was correct. "Countersign is Firefly. Good to see you, Star Colonel." She waved to the main gate, a hundred meters to the south. The 'Mechs marched towards it, and now Iona could see the nicks and burn marks of armor damage. None of the damage appeared serious. There were men clinging to the handholds set into the quartet of OmniMechs, she could see now. "What is the situation, Star Colonel?"

"The headquarters was attacked by partisans. Everything is somewhat under control there. Some prisoners escaped. I managed to get a Star in action and we headed north to board our DropShip while the Keshik mopped up. We heard of the attack on the POW camp and moved to intercept. Unfortunately we ran into enemy 'Mechs, company strength. They are about six kilometers behind us. I picked up a few of the camp guards and pulled back to here."

"Freebirth!" Iona's heart began pounding again.

"I could not agree more, Star Commander. They are still at the camp, so we have time. My 'Mechs are low on ammunition, so we will assemble at the _Minerva_ and resupply, and I will send these men to reinforce yours. Is the DropShip still here?"

"Aff, Star Colonel."

"Well done, Star Commander Iona Hazen." The four 'Mechs broke into a jog for the main part of the DropPort. Iona grabbed her radioman; now she had to correct the belayed transmission.

* * *

"They fell for it," Elfa Brownoak said. She wiped clammy hands on her MechWarrior shorts. "I thought we would have to fight our way in." She waved at Lieutenant Carnes, who she knew had not enjoyed the trip from Sharpsburg, clinging like a tick to the skin of the _Loki_, using handholds meant for Elementals. They had gathered twenty volunteers from the ex-prisoners and dressed them in Jade Falcon uniforms stripped from the prison guards, but those uniforms were not built for warmth. Carnes, half-frozen, waved feebly back.

"No reason for them not to, quiaff?"

"A-Aff," Elfa answered, unused to the Clan term. "I'm just surprised, that's all."

_Neg, you are suspicious,_ Senefa Malthus thought to herself. She had noticed that a Sternsnacht heavy pistol was never out of Elfa's reach, despite the cramped confines of the cockpit, and the fact that Senefa was sitting with her knees under her chin just to fit at all. Her offensive capabilities were rather limited. Of course, Senefa figured, Elfa had a good reason to be suspicious. Someone who turned traitor once could do so again.

Senefa knew that was what she was, a traitor. Helping Sheila and her friends escape was one thing, but her actions simply began to compound on each other. The initial plan, as Max Canis-Vlata had told her, was to load up Sheila on a horse, allowing her, Max, and Felisanna to get to the woods first, as Sheila was likely in need of medical attention. Tooriu would find Jordy Kumano and Captain Richardson, the senior officers at the prison, steal transportation, and also escape to the woods south of the city covered by Elfa's captured OmniMechs. Simutaneously, a two-lance force led by the old MechWarrior Senefa had crossed verbal swords with on Planting, Marion Rhialla, would support an attack on the POW camp near the DropPort. Assisted by the Vantaa Rangers, those prisoners would melt back into the countryside to evade recapture, while the 'Mechs also went south to the Massanutten Valley with Elfa's Omnis. Richardson was dead, killed by his captors before he could escape, but Kumano had survived, and had quickly and competently taken command.

Unfortunately, that plan had fallen apart, for two reasons. One was Sheila's encounter with the Elemental. Her left arm had been crushed, and she was bleeding internally and in shock. Other prisoners had been hurt in the crossfire between Elfa's 'Mechs and the Elementals at the prison. None, including Sheila, would survive long enough to reach a hospital still in Inner Sphere hands. The second was the Jade Falcon Keshik. Unbeknownst to Senefa, Cavell Malthus had ordered all but a Trinary of the Jade Falcon Keshik headquarters guard south to support the attack on Marye's Heights, what Senefa had supposed was going to be included in the now-cancelled briefing. While that greatly lessened any opposition at Sharpsburg or the DropPort, it also meant that the way south to the friendly woods was blocked by the better part of a full Cluster of 'Mechs. The company of 'Mechs and a convoy of vehicles filled with unarmed prisoners would be slaughtered long before they reached friendly lines.

So, in a hasty conference in the burning ruins of Camp Unity, the POW camp, Max, Elfa, Marion, and Senefa had come up with a new, even more desperate plan: they would go to the ill-defended DropPort and steal the _Minerva, _which should be ready to fly. After wrecking any Jade Falcon fighters they found, the DropShip could fly on a long, circuitous route and make it to Cold Harbour, assuming they were not shot down by Sentinel fighters. There was a fully stocked infirmary aboard, so they could easily stabilize Sheila and the other wounded.

It was a good plan, Elfa had said, but it had to work. Senefa was instrumental to it working. She alone had the passwords; she alone could convince the crew to drop their guard long enough for the twenty prisoners to swarm the ship and take it over. It had not taken much convincing for Senefa to agree, something that bothered her. True, she was essentially now a bondswoman to the Snowbirds, and as such her loyalty was now to them under Clan traditions…but the Snowbirds were not Clan, and she had not been captured, she had joined of her own free will.

Elfa stopped the BattleMech in front of the towering _Minerva_, and Senefa pushed those thoughts aside. Action was something she did understand, and action was what was now required.

The ex-prisoners began to clamber down from the 'Mechs; somehow none of them fell, despite the cold and numbed limbs. From the _Stormcrow,_ what the Spheriods for some reason called a _Ryoken,_ Senefa saw Max climb down as well. Sheila was in Tessya Blackthorn's Omni, still unconscious, bandaged as best she could; Felisanna, nursing her broken leg, was with Philip Scott. The giant MechWarrior named Tooriu Kku was with the other Snowbird 'Mechs, not six kilometers away but actually only three. Senefa checked her chronometer. They were undoubtedly almost in visual range. "You'd better get going," Elfa told her.

"Aff." Senefa undogged the hatch.

"Hey." She turned at the sound of Elfa's voice. The woman paused, then held out the Sternsnacht. "You'd better take this."

"This is all I need." Senefa patted the collapsible staff at her side. Their eyes met for a moment, and a nod of mutual respect passed between them. Then Senefa quickly scrambled down the handholds to the ground. She did not acknowledge Max's glance, and strode up to the hulking Elemental Star Commander Vornzel. He smiled and they shook hands. "Star Colonel. Good to see you. We were getting a little worried," he rumbled.

"Is the _Minerva_ ready?"

"She is fully fueled." He motioned at the open 'Mech bay hatches. "We had some stocks of ready ammunition. The crew will assist you in reloading your 'Mechs. Are there other Spheriod 'Mechs coming?" Senefa nodded. "Good. As soon as we complete the reload, I will have the crew man the DropShip's guns. They will think twice about engaging an _Overlord_-class."

"Aff. And the fighters?" Senefa motioned to the row of parked aircraft.

"Still being refueled and reloaded, so far as I know. It was interrupted when the first report of 'Mechs came in…ah, there are the astechs now. We should have fighter support in a little while, then."

Senefa noticed Max walk up to one of the DropShip crew and exchange a few words. The crewman handed Max a huge spanner wrench, which the MechWarrior could barely lift and was nearly as tall as he was. Max thanked the crewman and began walking towards Senefa. "Aff. Well, we had better start then—" Senefa took a quick step back as Max raised the wrench and brought it down squarely on Vornzel's head. The Elemental staggered, looked at Senefa with an expression of utter surprise, then slowly, like a great tree, crumpled to the tarmac. Senefa was not sure if that was a prearranged signal she had not heard about, but it worked: the four captured Omnis came to life and pointed their array of lasers, PPCs, missile ports, and machine guns at the DropShip crew, while several of the prisoners produced pistols or improvised melee weapons. There was no resistance. Max dropped the dented wrench with a puff of exertion and bent to examine the fallen Elemental.

"Is he dead?" Senefa asked. She hoped that Vornzel was not; she felt an odd sort of affection for the man.

"Nope. It would take a howitzer to kill him." Max motioned to the ex-prisoners. "Get aboard and take the ship." Lieutenant Carnes nodded and rushed aboard, followed by fifteen of the twenty that had come along. Max looked up at Elfa. "Get the party started, Elfa!" She acknowledged with a raised weapon pod and began marching towards the parked Aerofighters. The DropShip crewmen were herded away from the _Minerva_, any thoughts of attacking the Spherians nulled by the 35-ton _Puma_ that still pointed weapons at them. Max pulled a needler from beneath his stolen uniform. "Look," he addressed the crew, "this area is about to become a world of hurt. Stay here and you're going to get killed." He motioned with the needler to the distant terminal. The crewmen instantly understood and fled.

"What about him?" Senefa pointed to Vornzel.

"We can't just leave him to get toasted by the DropShip when we take off. Hell, load him aboard." Max detailed the two burliest men they had to drag the unconscious Elemental aboard. They were none too gentle about it, Senefa observed, but she was glad nonetheless and touched by Max's concern. _Maybe, perhaps, I am better off with these people?_ she wondered to herself.

Gunfire resounded from inside the DropShip, and Max and Senefa sprinted up the boarding ramp. At the same time, Elfa's opening volley sent a _Visigoth_ fighter up in flames as fuel and open ammunition bays touched off.

* * *

Star Commander Iona Hazen whipped her head around at the explosion on the flight line. It was a good kilometer away, but the profile of the _Hellbringer_ was unmistakable. It, joined by the _Viper_ and the _Stormcrow_, were systematically going down the line of parked Aerofighters, blowing them apart. When she saw the _Hellbringer_ kick one aside like a toy, she knew that the impossible had just come horrifyingly true.

"Those are not ours!" she shouted to no one in particular. "They are Spheroids!" She grabbed her long-suffering radioman. "Send to Headquarters Sharpsburg, 'Under attack by captured 'Mechs, need assistance immediately—'"

"_Incoming!"_ screamed another Elemental, and Iona whirled. A cloud of fireflies were heading towards them, except that they were not fireflies, but missiles. "Down!" she ordered, though it was unnecessary; men and women along the line, even the armored Elementals, were taking cover beneath the concrete parapet of the wall. The missiles detonated all along the wall. Iona felt shrapnel thud against her armor and even felt the heat of a close explosion, but it would take a direct hit from a full volley of missiles to breach the thick battlesuit. "Radioman—" She stopped. Her radioman was nothing but a bloody smear: the missile that had gone off next to her had killed him instantly. She cursed and raised up to her full, considerable height.

In the distance marched a full line of BattleMechs, nine across. The rumble of their footfalls began to shake the walls. Iona identified the enemy 'Mechs quickly: the lights she could hold against, but towering above those were the slab-sided shoulders of a _Battlemaster_ and an _Awesome_; even larger than these was the death's head visage of an _Atlas._ Against that, a stand with a handful of Elementals and foot infantry was suicide, and there was no telling if there was more behind that.

"Abandon the wall!" Iona yelled. "Fall back to the terminal!"

Charles Badaxe reached forward with his _Atlas'_ hands and sent the concrete gates tumbling down. The Snowbirds marched into the DropPort unopposed, ten trucks filled to the brim with escapees behind them.

* * *

The gunfire was coming from the bridge. Max and Senefa climbed up a series of ladders to get to the upper decks in the "nose" of the DropShip, where the bridge was located. Normally, they could have taken elevators to get to this section, but the lifts had been locked down. That was not a good sign.

When they reached the bridge, there was a knot of ex-prisoners there. Lieutenant Carnes was among them; her arm was being bandaged by one of the medics that had been an inmate of Heartbreak Hotel. "What happened?" Max asked.

"Bastards must've seen what happened outside from the bridge," Carnes said, wincing as the bandage was drawn tight. "They ambushed us as we walked in." She pointed to two bodies that had been dragged aside. "We've wedged the door open a little, so they can't lock it, but they've got assault rifles. Anybody who goes through those doors is gonna get shot."

"Shit," Max cursed. "This is going to be a real short trip if we can't take the bridge."

"You're welcome to try," Carnes sighed, with a thumb at the blast doors. There was about a meter opening where someone had jammed a metal box. As if to emphasize her point, a flurry of bullets ripped through the opening. "If we had some grenades…"

"Maybe we can find some in the ship's armory."

"I have a better idea," Senefa said. "A grenade is likely to damage the controls. Follow me, Max." Max did so, wondering what Senefa was up to now, but not before exchanging his needler for Carnes' Ryonex submachinegun.

Senefa walked down the narrow corridor to where it ended at the inner hull of the DropShip. A hatch marked off in red and orange and surrounded by warning labels was there, an airlock. "We can use this. There is an emergency airlock to the bridge. We can drop in behind the likely position of the defenders."

"Sure, if they haven't locked the airlock."

"If you have a better idea…"

Max didn't. He wasn't relishing hanging off the nose of a DropShip that was the height of a skyscraper, but the thought of a dying Sheila somewhere below motivated him. "Okay, let's go." He wondered about Senefa's lack of a weapon, but decided if the Clanswoman had wanted a gun, she easily could have obtained one by now. Max quickly dashed back to tell Carnes what was happening, and for her group to keep up a harassing fire through the door. By the time he returned, Senefa had the heavy airtight hatch open and was already halfway out. Max took a deep breath and followed.

As he had expected, it was rather cold outside. Also as he had expected, it was easily two hundred meters to the unyielding ferrocrete tarmac below. He slung the Ryonex over his shoulder and followed Senefa, hands and feet gripping the rungs welded onto the DropShip's hull. They were designed to be negotiated in zero gravity, which made the going that much tougher. One slip and he would slide down about twenty meters on the egg-shaped hull, then would come that very long drop and very sharp stop. The wind whipped them mercilessly; not helping the matter was the sound and sight of explosions as Elfa's demi-lance finished off the parked Aerofighters. Max risked craning his neck behind him and saw the Snowbirds marching in perfect formation towards the _Minerva_; there had evidently been no fight at the wall. Senefa, to Max's disgust, had raced up the rungs as if it was a confidence course and was now crouched at the nose of the DropShip, waiting patiently for him, seemingly immune to cold and fear. He made his way towards her. "Now what?" he asked over the howl of the wind.

Senefa said nothing, just pointed. The airlock was an arm's length away, but the lock mechanism was on the other side. "Stay here!" she told him. Balancing on one rung, she flattened herself against the hull, took stock of her position, shook her head free of her long hair, then half-leapt, half-slid. Max's heart shot into his throat as Senefa free-fell for a moment before grabbing the thick locking handle of the hatch. Pulling herself up, she reached out and pressed a red button marked EMERGENCY ONLY. The hatch irised open, and she slipped inside, then motioned Max to come on.

_Yeah, right,_ Max groused silently, but trying to ape Senefa, he leapt upward towards the nose cap and let himself slide down towards the hatch. His left hand grasped the lip of the airlock; his right closed on empty air. Max let out an oath as he felt himself slipping, but then Senefa's gloved hand closed around his right hand and together they pulled him into the tiny depression in the hull. "You're going to own Sheila and I by the time this is over, with all the debts we're piling up to you," he remarked.

Senefa did not smile. "You will have an opportunity to save my life, I am quite sure," she replied. "Now then…are you ready?"

"Are you? Those are other Clanners down there, Senefa—your countrymen. You don't have to go in." Max unslung the Ryonex.

"I have no country, Max. I ceased having one this afternoon." She raised her hands above her head and extended the staff in her hand. Max could not help but notice that he and Senefa were pressed up against each other, close enough to feel each other's breath. The face in front of him was enough like Sheila's that he very nearly impulsively kissed those full lips. He turned red, and now Senefa smiled, realizing his discomfiture. "Ready?" she repeated.

"Yeah," Max nodded, hoping that Sheila never heard about this.

Senefa grabbed the locking handle and pulled, then twisted it counterclockwise. The hatch beneath them open and they dropped the two meters to the bridge deck. Surprise was complete. Max slipped and landed on his rear end, but Senefa alighted like a cat; it was she who moved first. She sprinted forward and swept the staff across one crewman, sending him flying into a bulkhead. Five others had dropped a storage locker across the deck near the entrance as a barricade. Max raised the Ryonex and cut two of them down before they had a chance to react. "Carnes!" was all he had time to shout.

Senefa, heedless of the crew's assault rifles, charged. She somersaulted, avoiding a burst sent in her direction, then slammed the tip of her staff into one man's chest. He fell back against the locker and the others retreated. One went prone and raised his rifle to shoot Senefa. Max put the submachinegun flat on the deck and pulled the trigger; the bullets followed the plane of the deck and killed the crewman instantly. The main doors were shoved open and Carnes' group swarmed in. The first one through the door was shot dead, but the others fell on the shooter with wrenches, tools, even a baseball bat one of them had liberated somewhere. Max tried to ignore the muffled screams as the shooter was beaten to death. The last crewman wisely threw down his gun and raised his hands. Senefa grabbed a handful of the man at her staff's mercy and tossed him alongside the other survivor. "That's enough!" Max shouted. The beating stopped, too late, but enough to keep the maddened prisoners from going after the others. "Secure the bridge." They obeyed as Senefa holstered the staff and walked to DropShip's controls. Her fingers tapped in a few commands, then she bared her teeth in anger. "What's wrong?" Max asked her.

"They have locked out the controls." She clicked on a few more keys. "We cannot bring up the engines or even her defensive armament."

"So we're stuck here?" Carnes asked in anguish.

"Not yet, we're not," Max answered. He threw the Ryonex to her and ran out the doors. "We need a hacker, and it just so happens I have one!"

* * *

He was back in a few minutes with Frederick Matria, who had rode over in the back seat of the _Battlemaster_. As he entered the bridge, Matria pulled out a laptop from his backpack. He set the rubberized keypad on the bridge console and activated the holographic display. "Can you do it?" Max asked him, for the third time since he had found Matria in the _Minerva's_ 'Mech bay.

"Crack a DropShip mainframe? No problem." He plugged in a few cables. "I may need our new buddy the Star Colonel here though—don't know if the Clans use a different OS or programming language."

"They should be compatible," Senefa remarked, sitting down next to Matria. The two soon became immersed in computer talk that quickly left Max behind, both regarding the act of hacking into a DropShip's onboard as an intellectual challenge.

"Major Canis-Vlata?" A man wearing prisoner coveralls Max didn't recognize came onto the bridge. "Sir, Lance Commander Rhialla is calling for you."

"On my way." The lifts were working now, and so Max was spared having to go back down about eight sets of ladders. They were on the 'Mech bay floor in moments. Rhialla was waiting. "Marion, what's up?" Max waved at the 'Mechs still sitting outside the DropShip. "We need to start loading up!"

"Not yet, we can't." She grabbed another man wearing a prison uniform and thrust him forward like he was a piece of meat for Max's inspection. "This guy says he's a DropShip pilot."

Max felt like Vantaa's biggest idiot. They had successfully captured the DropPort virtually without a shot, taken a complete Clan _Overlord_-class DropShip as a prize, and had not once actually considered who was going to fly the huge ship. "Glad somebody was thinking ahead." Max put out his hand. "Major Max Canis-Vlata, Snowbirds. Can you fly this thing?"

"Hi. Rob Baron, Vantaa Militia." They shook hands. "And I didn't say I was a DropShip pilot," he remarked with a snide look at Marion. "I'm a reservist. In civilian life, I fly business jets and executive shuttles—you know, for rich guys, across the planet and up to a DropShip in near orbit, that sort of thing."

"Whatever. Can you fly _this?_" Max stomped on the deck plates.

"I think so. I mean, the basic flight characteristics are the same, right?"

"You'd better hope so. Lay up to the bridge." Max was feeling positively nautical.

"Wait a sec." Baron put his hands on his hips. "Major, this isn't just taking an ultralight out for a joyride. You can't just turn a switch."

"So?" Marion half-snarled.

"So," Baron snapped back, "this ship may be fueled up, or so I heard, but the engines are cold. The startup sequence will take half an hour, at least."

"Oh, bullshit," Marion returned. "I've been on hot dustoffs under fire."

"Yes, but those ships were already prepped and waiting. This one isn't."

Max put a hand up to forestall further argument. "Okay, Baron, you're now captain of the Sentinel DropShip _Minerva._ Get up there and get the process started. Go!" Baron rushed off. He saw Marion's expression remain dark, and knew there was further bad news. "What now?"

"We don't have half an hour," Marion said with false cheer. "I left a listening post on the wall. There's a Trinary of Jade Falcons heading right for us."


	8. A Barroom Brawl With the Lights Shot Out

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, I'm tired. I've been typing away at this thing for nearly 12 hours. Hope you guys are happy now. _

_Actually, it's not work if you're having fun, so enjoy. I'll post an epilogue in the next few days (I mean it this time) and then it's on to the next story arc, which will be called, appropriately, _Snowbird's Revenge. _All the people who have screwed over Sheila and Company will get their comeuppance…well, maybe._

_In this chapter, I've referred to Clan 'Mechs by their Inner Sphere names (_Loki _instead of _Hellbringer, Daishi _instead of _Dire Wolf) _to make things easier. It's already going to be confusing enough as it is, but it's supposed to be. I actually got the idea for this battle from the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, also known as the "Bar Room Brawl" for confused fighting in pitch blackness. The final part of the battle is based loosely on the final scene in the movie _The Wild Geese. _It really should be longer, but it's late and I decided that I've written enough 'Mech battle for one day. _

_And FraserMage, who's got to be the quickest reader around (reviewed less than five minutes after Chapter 7 was posted!): probably not on the Battletech cartoon characters, though I do have the _Somerset Strikers _unit book for CBT. Given Adam Steiner's later status as a staunch Katherine Steiner-Davion loyalist, he and Sheila would not get along. The Strikers are also still moseying around the Clan front, so they and the Snowbirds would not cross paths. Still, it's entirely possible that the Snowbirds might run into Franklin Sakamoto or Doc Nakamura when the Snowbirds get in Kurita territory. (Oh, did I say that? Hmm…)

* * *

_

_Sharpsburg DropPort_

_Vantaa, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth_

_20 June 3051_

Star Captain Jinn Buhallin looked at the Sharpsburg DropPort through his _Daishi_'s viewfinder and did not at all like what he saw. The walls surrounding the airport were deserted, and the only lights visible were running lights on the DropShip—that, and the fires of burning Aerofighters. That was not a good sign at all.

"Any communication from Star Commander Iona Hazen?" he radioed.

"None," answered Star Commander Quillic Mattlov, his second-in-command. "There is heavy jamming down there, though."

Buhallin looked up through the cockpit's armored windows. The moon had already been obscured by gray clouds, and a thin snow had begun to fall—not enough to hamper movement, but enough to diffuse what little light was out there into almost pitch blackness. "Bravo Beak Three. Take point. Move out in line formation."

"Aff, Star Captain." Mattlov sounded less than enthusiastic. Buhallin could not blame him. His force was somewhat _ad hoc,_ put together in a hurry when the Jade Falcon Keshik had realized that the real battle of this night was not at Marye's Heights but behind them, in Sharpsburg itself. Star Colonel Sedale Malthus' Keshik Command Star had still been at the headquarters, but it had gone off the air hours before and nothing more heard since. The Keshik's Elemental Trinary was spread out between Sharpsburg, the DropPort, and the POW camp, and now none of them had been heard from since a fragment of a message reporting captured OmniMechs attacking the flightline. The POW camp was deserted and in flames, and headquarters was a shambles. Jinn Buhallin had decided to march on the DropPort even before the message had come in, assuming that if he had not gotten contact reports from the main body of the Keshik to the south, then the Spheroids were running north, probably awaiting a DropShip pickup. Even then, it was a scratch unit—his own Alpha Talons One and Two from Trinary Alpha, joined by Qullic Mattlov's Bravo Beak Three. Some of his MechWarriors were piloting unfamiliar 'Mechs, as Buhallin had needed speed over firepower. What he had was still impressive: his own _Daishi_ and Star Commander Neal Roshak's _Turkina_ were heavily armed assault 'Mechs; Mattlov and one other MechWarrior piloted _Thors_; there were three _Lokis_ and one _Vulture; _and rounding out the Trinary was a heavy _Night Gyr,_ a medium _Black Lanner_ and a medium _Fenris,_ and three light _Ullers_. He had had another _Daishi_, but it had gone down with a hip actuator failure, leaving him with 14 instead of the normal 15 'Mechs. He had no idea what the enemy had or who they were, only that they were out there. Mattlov's Star would hopefully trip an ambush.

* * *

Marion Rhialla squirmed in her seat—or rather, it was Max's seat, as she was borrowing his _Battlemaster_; her own _Palladium_ was too slow, though she had contradicted herself a few moments after declaring that by allowing Chuck Badaxe to bring his ponderous _Atlas_ and Tooriu Kku's _Awesome._ Still, she had thought that any battle they got into would be decided at close range, and the AC/20 the _Atlas_ sported would be devastating in what MechWarriors referred to as a knife fight. And Marion liked the all-around vision of the _Battlemaster_ as compared to her own machine. 

Of course, Marion had hoped to avoid a fight. She had only brought two lances under the ocean, with Elfa's "Deception Lance" already in place. It was all Calla would spare, and it was just enough to fight their way out of trouble with a light 'Mech Star or Elementals. A full Trinary of unknown type or weight was not something she wanted to go up against, but she supposed the odds could be worse. Besides her own _Battlemaster_, Badaxe's _Atlas,_ and Kku's _Awesome_, she had Elfa's four Clantech-armed Omnis, which was a nice force multiplier; she also had Arthur McKenna in his _Archer_, a good, solid, tough machine, and Kaatha in her _Griffin._ Both were tough veterans. Maria Thyatis and her _Wolverine_ made a good team with her lover Badaxe, and Marion had a special place in her heart for her adopted daughter, the shy, beautiful, deadly Maysa Bari and her _Rifleman_. The only two she really worried about was Mary Scott and her _Wasp_ and Tinyak Fernplanter's _Unicorn_: both were light designs and would be badly overmatched in a stand-up fight.

So Marion had determined there would be no stand-up fight. They only had to hold for half an hour. Her opposite number would know the _Minerva_ was operational and so would have a healthy respect for the DropShip's formidable armament. That limited their axis of attack to the area around the main terminal, south of the tarmac—the terminal, outlying buildings, hangars, and, if the Clans veered too far and attacked from the southeast, a tank farm filled with highly explosive aviation fuel. Marion had every intention of blowing that up if the Falcons were foolish enough to try that approach. Something told her that they wouldn't. That left the southern approach. She had a lance covering each side. Whichever one was hit would pull the other two onto the flank of the attacker. It was tactics Napoleon would've recognized and understood. Marion intended to let the battle become a close range brawl—a brawl in a room with the lights shot out, since she had already blown the DropPort's main transformer station.

Now all they had to do was wait.

* * *

Star Commander Quillic Mattlov brought up one weapon pod of his _Thor_. The rest of his Star came to a halt. He could see the DropShip about a kilometer off, so he was well out of range of its missile batteries and heavy autocannon. Between the two were several large hangars, outbuildings, and various other obstacles that suggested an ambush site. But there was nothing for it: his job was to be bait. He swept the pod down, and the Star advanced. He felt himself tensing up for the first sign of an Inner Sphere attack: there had been nothing so far, which led him to believe he was up against a veteran unit. The first warning he would get would be when they opened fire. 

Seconds passed as he marched slowly past a huge hangar, then seconds became minutes. Something was wrong. Mattlov glanced down at his map display. Buhallin had given him no direct orders on direction, leaving it to his own judgement. He stopped and turned, sending a tightbeam message to the trailing 'Mech in his star. "Beak Three Delta from Alpha. Anything?"

"Neg, Alpha."

"Any sign of the rest of the Trinary?"

"Neg, Alpha," MechWarrior Billock answered.

"Freebirth," Mattlov cursed. He decided to risk it. "Beak Three Alpha to Alpha Actual, come in." All he got was the static of jamming.

* * *

Marion's head came up at that broadcast, which was widebeam. "Elfa, Marion." There was no need for callsigns. "Where did that come from?" 

"Our extreme right."

Marion shifted the 'Mech around to look behind her. The DropShip's landing lights had been switched off, except those facing directly towards her. From the bridge of the colossal ship, they could see the Clan formation. It was still heading for her and had not moved to the left or the right. _A stalking horse?_ she asked herself. _Throw out a Star on my flank, see if I bite? Gotta be._ "Elfa, hold position."

"Roger that." Elfa did not sound very happy about it.

* * *

Mattlov looked down the narrow alley between the hangars. Beyond was open ground. If the whole area suggested ambush, this alley screamed it. It was only wide enough for one 'Mech. "To blazes with this," he muttered, then keyed his mike. "Bravo Beak, backtrack on our line of march. Slowly." They did, and the Star was soon out of the buildings. Yet Mattlov could not see the rest of the Trinary. He hated to do it, but he had to risk another broadbeam message. "Bravo Beak to Alpha Actual. Where are you?" 

He could not know that Buhallin was wondering much the same thing. He had moved his two Stars into the buildings, but there had been no contact or even shooting from his scouting Star. Neither Clan commander nor even their Inner Sphere counterparts realized that Mattlov had backtracked behind his own unit.

* * *

"We're through!" Matria cheered. "Mainframe is buck naked. I've got everything now." 

"About time," Max groused. He looked up from where Sheila lay on a stretcher. One stubborn Clan crewman had elected to make a last stand in the infirmary, and now it was a wreck, shattered by gunfire. Luckily, the medical supplies had survived, and so Sheila at least had an IV going. According to the medic, she was now likely to make it, as long as they reached a medical facility in the next six hours. Max was fairly certain none of them would live past six hours if they were still at the DropPort, so that was a fair estimate. She was still out, but some color had returned to her cheeks. "I thought you said it would be easy."

"Hey, I got everything but engine controls," Matria protested.

"The one thing we needed more than anything," Max shot back. He knew he was probably being unfair to Matria, but time was getting close. "Okay, Baron, she's yours."

Robert Baron settled into the helm chair. He hesitantly tapped a few keys, and, gaining confidence, began to type freely. "Okay…we've got internal power, so the reactor's online. Full tank of gas, as it were…right, bringing up the engines." They heard a dim rumble. Max motioned at Felisanna, who had elected herself the radio liasion. "'Sanna, let Marion know—"

"Sky down, big chief," Baron interrupted. "Remember what I said? The engines are cold."

"So how long?" Max bit out.

"That's the good news. Should be ten minutes."

Max looked at Senefa. "Last chance, Star Colonel. You can still leave. You could tell them we forced you to do all this."

Senefa closed her eyes. No one would ever believe that, especially of her. She took a breath, let it out slowly. There was no going back now. There was nothing left to go back to. She opened her eyes, met Max's gaze, and slowly, deliberately, reached up and tore away the three red Stars that marked her rank. She stood, and came to attention. "Major Maximillian Canis-Vlata, I, Senefa Malthus, of my own free will, formally request asylum in the Federated Commonwealth of Houses Steiner and Davion."

Max grinned and took her hand. He was about to say something appropriate when an explosion rocked the DropShip. The Battle of Sharpsburg DropPort had begun.

* * *

Marion's patience had run out. With no message from the _Minerva_, which could no longer see the Clan 'Mechs in the buildings, Marion decided that her opposite number must be waiting for her on the other side of the hangars, or was working his way around somehow undetected. She ordered the Snowbirds to move in. At the same time, Buhallin, with no knowledge of even Mattlov's location, came to the same conclusion—that _his_ opposite number was waiting at the edge of the DropShip's weapon ranges—and ordered his unit forward, telling them to work their way gradually northwest to stay clear of any long-range laser fire, which would be longer than an Inner Sphere ship could make. Because the main DropPort hangars formed a V with the bottom facing south, it necked the Snowbirds down to almost single file for a precious space of thirty seconds. As a result, both units collided in the worst possible tactical formation. 

"_Madre de Dios!"_ Maria Thyatis shouted. "Enemy contact, three 'Mechs, direct front!" In near panic, Thyatis had forgotten to identify herself. All the Snowbird 'Mechs looked to their front, but only Thyatis and Arthur McKenna, just behind her, could see the Clan 'Mechs.

One of the three 'Mechs they saw was MechWarrior Mance, in a _Loki._ "Alpha Actual, Alpha Talon Two Charlie, enemy contact!" he yelled. "Enemy 'Mechs, three o'clock!" Realizing his commander might not be able to identify the enemy in the darkness, he turned and snapped on his searchlight, quickly followed by his Starmate, MechWarrior Edvar, also in a _Loki_. Both opened fire at the same time.

Elfa saw the spotlights and kept her voice deliberately calm. "Marion, this is Elfa, I have a _Thor_, direct front my position. I'm firing; follow my shots." She raised and fired both PPCs, the blue beams raking Quillic Mattlov, who had wandered into the fight. Out of the corner of one eye, Elfa spotted three more Clan 'Mechs. "Identify one _Uller,_ one _Loki,_ one _Fenris_ at my three o'clock!" She turned and fired her secondary array of medium lasers at the new attackers, but except for a glancing blow on the _Fenris,_ they missed.

The Clan return fire did not. Under normal circumstances, the Clans would challenge and pair off, but they were off-balance and surprised, and all three MechWarriors—Bothin, Edvar, and Cachul—opened fire on Elfa's lone _Loki_. The latter was thinly armored for its 65 tons, and Elfa had very little room to dodge. The other _Loki_ missed with its main battery, but the _Fenris'_ PPC lanced into Elfa's middle and hit the gyro. The 'Mech immediately pitched to the right, and Elfa barely kept from going down. A Gauss shell from the _Uller_ tore away most of her left foot. She growled horrible oaths in three languages as she limped back, firing more to keep the Clansmen's heads down rather than for effect.

Marion knew she had lost control of the fight. "Snowbirds, engage any enemy 'Mechs! Maria, help Elfa!" She spotted a huge _Daishi_. "Go for the big ones! We want the big ones!" The smaller 'Mechs couldn't hurt the _Minerva,_ but the assault 'Mechs most certainly could.

* * *

Maria Thyatis had avoided the shots from the twin _Lokis_ and had been sighting her PPC at the _Daishi_, but heard Marion's orders and contented herself with a salvo of SRMs at extreme range. She turned to help Elfa, firing the PPC at the _Fenris_ and missing, but realized in terror that the SRMs had done nothing to distract the _Daishi_, and worse, she was squarely in the assault 'Mech's sights. Buhallin's large pulse lasers stuttered ruby beams across the _Wolverine_ and then followed it up with a Gauss shot. The massive firepower sent the smaller 'Mech reeling, spinning around, and then crashing to the ferrocrete. "Maria!" Chuck Badaxe yelled. "Maria, you're on fire!" The maddened Jade Falcons didn't give her a second of respite, hitting the prone 'Mech again and again with laserfire; Maria managed only a feeble return fire from her medium laser. With the fire from her damaged engine greedily burning its way through the _Wolverine's_ skeleton and heading towards its storage of SRM missiles, Maria tightened her straps, said a prayer, and pulled the ejection handles. The top of the 'Mech's head blew off and her seat sailed high into the air, out of the battle. 

"Maria's down, she punched out!" Badaxe said over the open channel. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled at the _Daishi_, but before he could engage the other assault 'Mech, McKenna's _Archer_ raced forward, firing its LRMs. The range was far too close for the missiles to arm, but Buhallin instinctively fell back from them, just in time for McKenna to crash into him. Armor crumpled on both 'Mechs. The _Daishi_ staggered but didn't fall; McKenna grabbed one huge arm of the 'Mech and forced it down, causing Buhallin's hasty fire to only blow holes in the ground. The other couldn't bear on the _Archer_ because of the forward-jutting cockpit of the Clan 'Mech. Eschewing his weapons, McKenna drew back and smashed his 70-ton machine's fist into the _Daishi_'s head. Armored glass shattered and peppered Buhallin with fragments, tearing into his legs and ripping open his cooling vest. MechWarriors Okin, Sankill, and Billock, hearing their commander's screams of pain over the radio, ran forward and forced McKenna back with missiles and lasers. He turned to engage, only to have MechWarrior Viv in her _Uller_ now enter the fight, autocannon vomiting shells at the much larger enemy. It gouged a huge hole in the _Archer's_ flank armor. Badaxe fired his AC/20 at the light 'Mech, which would have flattened it had he hit, but Viv nimbly skipped out of the way. McKenna now had the range for his LRMs, but didn't see Neal Roshak in his mammoth _Turkina_ step out from behind one of the hangars. Roshak centered the crosshairs of his advanced targeting computer on the gaping hole in the 'Mech's side, aimed his triple large pulse lasers, and let fly. The pulses unerringly found their way into the _Archer_'s internal structure and then its huge missile magazine. The _Archer_ vanished in a towering explosion. There was no ejection. Roshak ducked the _Turkina_ back behind cover and waited for another opportunity.

Cachul and his _Fenris_ began looking for the _Loki_ he had fired on. He sprinted around one building, saw that he was getting entirely too close to the DropShip, then turned and ran due east, hoping to circle around and hit the Snowbirds in the rear. To his horror, he ran out from behind two outbuildings and right in the middle of the Snowbird formation. Marion turned and unleashed her _Battlemaster's_ six medium lasers into the medium Clan 'Mech. It staggered, then faltered as Maysa Bari poured her large lasers into it. Cachul backpedaled, firing his PPC into the _Battlemaster_, then was hit again as Elfa leaned her crippled _Loki_ forward and blasted its rear armor with PPC shots. The _Fenris_ sagged and dropped like an unstrung puppet, and Cachul joined Thyatis in floating down in a parachute.

Mary Scott saw Elfa's _Loki_ with its guns pointed squarely at Marion's back. The damage had wiped away the spurious 133rd Falcon Fusiliers markings and the darkness, ripped by searchlights and gunfire, only exposed its silhouette. "Marion! _Loki,_ left rear!" Rhialla didn't question that; no MechWarrior would. She turned and fired the PPC, blasting away the searchlight and medium laser array. "Quit shooting me, you crazy bitch!" Elfa screamed. Marion realized her mistake, but so did Maysa Bari, who helpfully but mistakenly radioed, "Cease firing own 'Mechs!" This added yet another level of confusion to the fight, as both sides heard the radio call and couldn't tell who its speaker was. Now both sides closed to close range to identify the enemy, looking for markings or something else to see if the 'Mech in front of them was friendly or enemy.

One 'Mech that both sides knew the identity of was the huge _Daishi_. Buhallin was just righting his 'Mech and trying to bandage his abused legs when he found himself under fire again. He twisted as LRMs slammed into his right side, and spotted a _Griffin,_ half his size. He snarled a vile epithet regarding the enemy MechWarrior's parentage which Kaatha would've found rather amusing, and sighted his pulse lasers and Gauss Rifle on it, only to come under attack again. He realized the missiles were only a distraction, because the damage from twin PPCs mounted on the squat _Puma_ that came at him did far more. The _Daishi_ staggered again, its thick armor absorbing the blows, but Buhallin knew he had to pull back before he got swarmed. His hasty return fire went past the _Puma_ to immolate a small hangar. He walked backwards, looking for the irritating _Puma_ and trying to remember if he had one in his thrown-together unit, when he spotted the _Battlemaster._ "Worthy adversary," he growled, and raised his weapon arms. Rhialla saw the movement and did the same. Their lasers, missiles, PPC bolt, and Gauss shell crossed paths and blasted both 'Mechs. Marion took the worst of it, taking laserfire across the chest, slagging half her medium lasers, taking away engine shielding, and shattering the cockpit glass behind her, as well as wiping out her communications suite set behind the _Battlemaster's_ canopy. Her PPC bolt turned the _Daishi_'s left hip into scrap, however. Both commanders now pulled back. Buhallin thought about closing the range, but an undamaged _Rifleman_ stepped between him and the _Battlemaster_, and he pulled back behind a building before Maysa could fire. Roshak thought he saw his opportunity and aimed at the stricken _Battlemaster_, but Tooriu Kku let fly with three PPC bolts that forced the _Turkina_ back under cover—but not before Roshak tore away armor from the _Awesome_ with shots of his own.

"Bravo Beak Two—oh, stravag! Mance, are you still here?" MechWarrior Rethlin radioed his friend.

"Still here, Reth! I have you at my eleven! Do not charge forward, my friend, that _Awesome_ will ruin your evening!"

"Not planning to, Mance! Follow me!" The _Night Gyr_ backtracked, then ran behind one of the larger hangars to come out on the Snowbirds' right flank. Tinyak Fernplanter and his 30-ton _Unicorn_ was there, Tinyak looking for a way to get into the fight without being riddled from all sides. He saw the much larger _Night Gyr_ crash through a retaining wall. "Oh shit! Tinyak to Snowbirds, two Clanners, left flank—" His transmission was cut off, along with his life, when two Gauss shells decapitated the light 'Mech. Badaxe saw the _Unicorn_ go down, and turned to fight, having been frustrated at hitting anything so far, but now Mance followed his friend into action and landed a lucky shot on the titanic _Atlas_, smashing the assault 'Mech's knee. Badaxe, taken by surprise, went down hard, knocking him senseless as a hundred tons of BattleMech crashed to earth. The way to the Snowbirds' flank was open. Mary Scott saw both 'Mechs go down, and desperately tried to at least distract the Clans. She pushed her _Wasp_ as hard as it would go, leapt over the fallen _Unicorn_, and hit the _Night Gyr_. It was a futile effort, like throwing a pie at a freight train. The little _Wasp,_ outweighed nearly four to one, bounced off the _Night Gyr._ Rethlin saluted the fallen MechWarrior's courage, then turned his weapons on her.

* * *

"How much longer?" Max asked. 

"Five minutes!" Baron told him.

"Felisanna, sound recall!"

Felisanna did so, but shook her head at Max. "The net's swamped. I don't think I got through."

* * *

Mary Scott closed her eyes, figuring that if she had to die, she didn't need to see it coming. She opened her eyes when she heard an explosion, and not from her own 'Mech. The _Night Gyr_ was swaying drunkenly, on fire, its arms severed from its body. Maysa Bari had at last found the range. Mance moved forward to engage and pull off the _Rifleman_, but now Kaatha pounded him with PPC and missile fire, while Maysa, cooling her 'Mech, fired two large lasers; Mary Scott, struggling to get her _Wasp_ to stand up, peppered him with two SRMs. Mance, faced with three targets, hesitated and tried to spread his fire around to all of them. He hit but did little damage. Before he could do more, his computer screamed a warning that a 'Mech was behind him. Drax, having leapt his _Dragonfly_ clear across the battlefield, opened fire with five medium lasers from his one good arm, which tore through the _Loki's_ light rear armor and found the engine. The _Loki_ blew apart with enough force to tear the legs from Scott's _Wasp_ and drop the crippled _Night Gyr;_ Maysa finished it off moments later. 

As soon as it had began, the battle tapered off as both sides, battered and wounded, pulled back. Elfa wedged her 'Mech between two huge posts. "Marion, come in!" She saw the _Battlemaster,_ smoking and holed. The PPC was junk, so Marion detached it and let it fall. With the 'Mechs hands, she signaled Elfa that her communications were out. "Shit. Tessya, this is Elfa, are you still alive?"

"I'm hit a little, but I'm okay."

"I'm crippled and Marion's lost com. Take command."

"Roger that. Snowbirds, sitrep."

It was Philip Scott who answered, who alone had not taken a single hit. "Maria punched in the first salvo, and that's Mary who's running back towards you on foot. Art McKenna and Tinyak are gone. Drax has got an arm off. Chuck, are you okay?"

The _Atlas_ was getting back to its feet, supported by the _Awesome_. "Lost a leg actuator and I feel like somebody just hit me over the head with a pool cue, but I'm tactical otherwise."

"I'm good," Tooriu reported in.

"This is Maysa, I'm okay."

"Kaatha here. I have armor damage, but I'm fine."

"Form a new line here." Tessya took up a position behind the closest hangar to the _Minerva._ "Drax, help Elfa back to the ship. Make sure Mary gets back okay." Drax acknowledged and pushed the smaller _Dragonfly_ under the _Loki_, supporting it. That left Tessya with six 'Mechs. She could see three OmniMechs burning, but if it had been a full Trinary that had hit them, she was now outnumbered two to one. She was already outgunned.

"Any Snowbirds 'Mechs, _come in!"_ Felisanna's voice was shrill and strained.

"Tessya here," Blackthorn replied. "What's up, Felisanna?"

"What's up? For the love of Freud! I've been trying to get through for the last two minutes!"

"We're a little busy—"

"The DropShip is almost ready to go! Load up, and hurry!"

"Why didn't you say so? Snowbirds, prepare to fall back—"

"Contact, enemy 'Mechs, direct front!" Tooriu's voice was distinctive enough that no one needed him to identify himself. "Looks like they're forming up for a rush!"

Tessya's fingers tightened on the triggers. Firing both PPCs would almost overwhelm the little 'Mech's heat sinks, but there was no choice. "Form line! Concentrate fire on that _Turkina!_ When I give the command, open up with everything you've got!"

* * *

"Elfa and Marion are aboard," Felisanna reported. "Tessya's holding the line."

"With what?" Max grabbed one of the ex-prisoners. "Find Major Kumano, tell him to get some people in the turrets. We may have to stand tall." He looked at Baron. "How're we doing?"

"Ninety percent. We can raise ship in three minutes." Baron tapped the instruments. "Better tell your people to get aboard, Major. If we don't get up on the first try, we've had it."

* * *

"Here they come!" Tooriu sang out.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Tessya screamed. The six 'Mechs, a pitifully thin line, opened fire with everything that could get in range—Tessya's and Tooriu's PPCs, Badaxe's and Kaatha's LRMs, and Maysa's deadly large lasers. Roshak had led the charge in his _Turkina,_ which was nearly as wide as it was tall and an easy target. The fusillade killed the charge's momentum nearly as soon as it began: the Falcons had more 'Mechs still standing, but their armor had taken its fair share of damage too. Steam poured from overworked heat sinks as the Clanfolk fell back under cover. More steam boiled from under the DropShip as the engines began to warm up to full power.

"Assaults and heavies, fall back!" Tessya called out. "We'll cover you—when you get to the foot of the DropShip ramp, cover us!" There was no acknowledgement, but Tooriu, Badaxe, and Maysa began walking backward to the _Minerva._ Occasionally, a Clan warrior would pop up for a shot, but would quickly duck back down rather than face a fusillade from Maysa and Tooriu. Badaxe, whose armor was more intact to his rear than to the front, simply walked aboard, ignoring any stray shots. As orange shock diamonds began to roar from the DropShip's engines, Tessya said, "That does it!" and pushed the _Puma_ for all it was worth, expecting to be cut down at any moment, with Kaatha and Scott hot on her heels. The fire that came was inaccurate at best: the Keshik, apparently, had enough for one day. Moments later, the doors to the DropShip closed shut, and the _Minerva_ rose skyward on a pillar of fire.


End file.
